Baseball notebook: Ordeal has happy ending
Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba felt the fear cut through him. His 11-year-old son was in the hands of kidnappers and he thought the boy was going to die.
Torrealba sat by the phone in Venezuela, listening to his wife negotiate with the kidnappers. It was thought best that Torrealba not do the talking.
“It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” he said. “For three days I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t drink water. I felt like my hands were tied and I couldn’t do anything.”
Torrealba spoke of his ordeal Sunday, the first time he has done so since Yorvit Eduardo was released by his abductors. Now, nearly two weeks later, his son is fine and with him in Denver
“Overall, he’s happy, he’s good,” Torrealba said before the Rockies played Seattle. “When we were in Miami I took him to the park, to the mall just to have a normal life again. He’s doing really good.”
Torrealba’s son will be at Coors Field on Tuesday when the Rockies open a three-game series against Tampa Bay. Torrealba said his son and his wife will stay in the U.S.
Torrealba said the kidnapping began June 2 when a car pulled in front of the car taking his son to school. His son was with Daniel Antonio Alvarez Morales, Torrealba’s 31-year-old brother-in-law, and Agrey Alexander Marquez, a 27-year-old brother-in-law of the boy’s mother.
“It took about two days,” Torrealba said. “For whatever reason they let him go before they got the money.”
The kidnappers demanded $500,000 at first, according to Torrealba, then dropped their demands to $150,000 and then $50,000.
“Those guys wanted to talk to me because they had an idea how much money I was having and the only one who could move it,” he said. “That’s why the cops believe it’s an inside job – family member or a friend.”
Clearing the bases
Eric Chavez is headed for another back surgery June 23 and won’t return in 2009 for the Athletics. This will be his second back surgery and fifth operation overall since Sept. 5, 2007. … Angels reliever Scot Shields will have season-ending surgery Tuesday, manager Mike Scioscia said. Shields was placed on the disabled list on May 27 for patella tendinitis. … The Cubs fired hitting coach Gerald Perry after 2 1/2 seasons in an attempt to spark a sputtering offense that ranks among the National League’s worst. The team promoted former Spokane Indian Von Joshua from Triple-A Iowa to replace Perry.