Brewers cut ties with reliever Carlos Torres by removing him from their 40-man roster

The Milwaukee Brewers had no intention of going to salary arbitration with veteran reliever Carlos Torres so they removed him from their 40-man roster Wednesday to allow him to start looking for work elsewhere. 

The Brewers could have waited until Dec. 2 to non-tender a 2018 contract to Torres, who recently turned 35, but instead outrighted him to Class AAA Colorado Springs, knowing he would refuse that assignment and become a free agent.

"We made the decision we were not going to go through arbitration with Carlos and elected to make that transaction now rather than waiting all the way to the tender date," general manager David Stearns said.

"We wish Carlos well. He was a big part of our bullpen for two years."

Torres, who would have been in line for a raise from his $2.175 million salary through arbitration, began the season in a late-inning role after posting a 2.73 ERA in 72 appearances in 2016. But he seemed to pay a price for heavy use in the early going and became less effective in the middle of the season, leading to a lesser role in the bullpen.

In 67 appearances, Torres was 4-4 with a 4.21 ERA, with a troublesome 1.528 WHIP. His ratios of hits allowed (9.7 per nine innings), home runs allowed (1.2  per nine) and walks allowed (4.1) all increased from the previous season, while his strikeout rate (6.9) declined. With the Brewers battling for a playoff berth, Torres made only 18 appearances over the final two months.

The move with Torres left the Brewers with seven players eligible for arbitration: relievers Corey Knebel, Jared Hughes and Jeremy Jeffress, starter Jimmy Nelson, catcher Stephen Vogt, and infielders Jonathan Villar and Hernan Perez.

The Brewers cleared another spot on their 40-man roster by outrighting outfielder Quintin Berry to Colorado Springs. Berry, 32, was called up in September primarily to serve as a pinch-runner and had only three plate appearances with no hits.