The Mets may make an offer to Yorvit Torrealba

I’m not going to go with the easy joke about how the Giants saved the Mets from themselves with respect to Bengie Molina, because as Aaron’s going to say later this morning, that’s not necessarily the case. Short version: it was a bit more complicated than that, with the Mets initially (and laudably) holding the line on Molina’s early demands, and then later just an overall souring of the relationship.

I’m more interested in what the Mets will do at catcher now The New York Times (and a lot of other places) is reporting that Minaya may make an offer to Yorvit Torrealba. Not a bad decision from a baseball perspective I suppose. A curious one for non-baseball reasons, however:

Turning to him would be intriguing, and perhaps costly, because Torrealba filed a continuing grievance against the Mets after they backed out of a three-year deal with him two years ago . . . Last month, the Mets and Torrealba attended a hearing on the grievance, conducted by the baseball arbitrator Shyam Das. A ruling is not expected for several months.

Parties in litigation are generally encouraged not to talk to each other without counsel present, so if the Mets do sign Torrealba, expect the mound to be crowded with guys with suits and briefcases during pitching changes. A lot of “would you please tell counsel for Mr. Santana that I believe a breaking ball is more appropriate in this situation. Thank you.”

More seriously, though, if the Mets do sign Torrealba, take his contract amount with a grain of salt, because it may contain some settlement dollars.