Melvin's To Do List Gets Bigger

The Brewers got a double dose of bad news yesterday. As expected, CC Sabathia was not named the NL's Cy Young Award winner (he finished an inexplicable fifth). What was not expected, was the announcement that closer Salomon Torres had decided to retire.

There were rumblings that Torres was not happy being traded by the Pirates a year ago, that he wanted to retire a year ago. But Torres put it off, reported, and his 28 saves while filling in for an injured and ineffective Eric Gagne put the Brewers in position to make their first playoff appearance since 1982.

The Brewers would have picked up his option for next season (which was under four million dollars - cheap by today's standards), but Torres decided now was the time to go home and spend time with his family. No one can get on the guy for doing that. For Torres, it was clearly not about the money.

But his departure leaves the Brewers scrambling. What will they do for a closer? Eric Gagne, Brian Shouse and Guillermo Mota are all free agents. Gagne's no longer a closer. Mota is too inconsistent to be a closer, and Shouse doesn't have the stuff to be a closer.

GM Doug Melvin is already touting Seth McClung as an internal option. I'm not buying. How many contenders go into a season trusting the ninth inning to someone who has never done it before? And how many contenders trust the spot to a guy who never produced before this season. McClung's a nice guy, and he saved the Brewers bacon a few times in 2008, but I'm not making him my closer.

Melvin also says he won't go 'all in' for a free agent like Brian Fuentes. I'm not buying that one either. Firstly, Melvin tried very hard to acquire Fuentes at the trading deadline. If the money paid to CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Gagne, Mota, and Mike Cameron (who might be moved if CC winds up signing somewhere else) comes off the books, Melvin will have a lot of money to play with. It would only make sense for him to pursue Fuentes and learn from the mistake of a year ago, when Francisco Cordero left Milwaukee for the Reds over a measley $4M.

Then again, Melvin might have someone else in mind. Someone no one is thinking about. Someone like Danny Kolb, or Eric Gagne, or even Torres, who was not expected to close when the Brewers got him. Melvin has shown the ability to find a closer where there wasn't one before. He probably thinks he can do it again.

But, it's a headache the GM doesn't need. He may have to rebuild his rotation once CC and Sheets take the money and run. We know he needs to bolster the front end of the bullpen. Then there are decisions to be made at third base, Rickie Weeks, and with phenom Alcides Escobar.

Having to go and get a closer was not something Melvin wanted to deal with.