The Toros del Este announced the signing of four players from free agency, led by pitcher Esmil Rogers, as well as catcher Webster Rivas, outfielder Aneury Tavárez and slugger Yermín Mercedes.
The announcement was made by Jesús Mejía, general manager of the Bulls, who had previously retained his stars Cristhian Adames, Yamaico Navarro, Raúl Valdés and Fernando Abad.
Rogers has been one of the best starters in the league in recent seasons, coming off one of his best seasons after going 4-2, 1.43 with 30 strikeouts and only 31 hits allowed in 44 innings, with an ERA+ of 215. For life he has a record of 16-16, 2.96 in 72 games, 54 of them as a starter.
In the postseason, the right-hander is 7-5, 3.21 in 27 games, starting 23 of them.
Rivas is one of the main native receivers in the league, with uninterrupted participation since his debut in 2013 to date. He is coming off hitting .278 with a pair of home runs and 12 RBIs for the Giants. Defensively, Rivas took out 33% of the runners who went to steal and with him behind the plate the pitchers had a 2.21 ERA, the best in the league among Creole catchers, in addition to winning the Gold Glove last season.
Tavárez is coming off a season where he hit .299/.362/.423 with 2 home runs and set a career high with 17 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. In 2022-23 he hit .387 with runners in scoring position and .323 with men in circulation. For life at LIDOM, with the Estrellas and Águilas uniforms, he batted .273 with 6 homers and 59 RBIs.
On his side, Yermín Mercedes will wear the orange jacket for the second time in his career, having reinforced the Bulls in the 2020-21 campaign. The La Romana native is a lifetime .271 hitter in 147 games, where he has hit 6 home runs and 68 RBIs. In the playoffs he has a .275/.364/.465 offensive line with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs.
Both Tavárez and Mercedes must contribute to the production of careers for the Roman club, for life with runners in scoring position Aneury has a .280 average and Yermín .301.
On the other hand, the general manager of the Bulls announced that he did not reach agreements with the outfielders Danny Santana, Abraham Almonte, Steven Moya, the catcher Gary Sánchez, the second baseman Wendell Rijo and the pitcher Alfredo Simón, for which they were left free to sign with the other teams as free agents