Salomon Torres: Pirates Closer Heading Into Season

The Pirates plan on keeping Torres busy in spring training so that he pitches more like he did following the All-Star break (1.22 ERA) than before it (4.63), the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Torres heads into 2007 as Pittsburgh's clear cut closer but has struggled early on in each of his three seasons (as a reliever) with the Bucs. "We understand the direction he wants to take, (so) when we get to April, he's much further down the road and performing like we saw in the second half of the season last year," manager Jim Tracy said. "I think a lot of it has not so much to do with physically but more with Salomon's mental approach." His pre All-Star/post All-Star break ERA splits for 2004 (3.00/2.25) and 2005 (3.67/2.04) indicate there might be something to Tracy's thinking. Torres, who turns 35 next month, has battled neck injuries in recent seasons but should still save plenty of games for the Pirates. If you take Torres you might also want to pick up Matt Capps as insurance.
Source: RotoWire.com