Photo courtesy of the New York Times
I’d love to trade for Joakim Soria as much as the next guy. He’s one of the few Closers in Baseball that reminds me of The Great Mariano. Slight build, misses bats (10.10 SO/9) has good control (2.53 BB/9) and is cool as ice out there. Fastball sits around 89-94 mph and has natural cutting action, which he throws most of the time. When facing Lefties, he complements the Fastball with a Change with good lateral action that he throws around 80-84 mph. Against Righties, he employs a Slider with good tilt and slow Curveball (66-71 MPH) that he mixes in equally. The cut on the Fastball makes hitters speed up their bats, and the breaking balls put them away. Earlier in his career, Mariano was called ‘the assassin’ (or El Asesino) and Soria’s nickname is ‘The Mexicutioner’. You could slide Soria in as the setup man until Mariano retires, and then have his replacement in the fold. At 26 years old, he’s still young enough to wait a few years and still have plenty left in the tank when that day eventually comes.
But here’s the problem with trading for Joakim Soria (courtesy of Cot’s)-
Joakim Soria rhp
3 years/$8.75M (2009-11), plus 2012-14 club options
* 3 years/$8.75M (2009-11), plus 2012-14 club options
o signed extension with Kansas City 5/17/08
o 09:$1M, 10:$3M, 11:$4M, 12:$6M club option, 13:$8M club option, 14:$8.75M club option ($0.75M buyout for each option)
o escalators based on IP (as starter) or games finished (as reliever)
At those prices, you’d have to give a truckload of talent to offset how underpaid he is. If for some reason the Royals love Joba, that would be a good place to start. But you’d have to fill 2-3 needs minimum with MLB ready talent. Some have suggested taking the overpaid Jose Guillen back, which would solve the bullpen and bench problem with one deal. But even then you’re talking about the Royals only saving 1/3 of his 12 mil contract, which expires at the end of this season. So you’re still looking at giving up lots of premium young talent to acquire Soria and control him for the next 4 seasons.
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17 Responses to The problem with trading for Soria
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TIQ IQ
The problem with trading for Soria is his GO/AO rate is going in the wrong direction over the last 3 years. If this trend continues will he stay an ELITE closer?
Anything that involves trading FOR Jose Guillen is a net negative.
I would give up talent only if I knew that in 2011 and beyond he’d be a SP for us.
Why would you want him to be a starting pitcher going forward when the Yankees have a ton of young starting pitchers coming up over the next few years from the minors?
this guy probably wants joba in the rotation now too. some guys are much more dominant out of the pen.
everyone is more dominant out of the pen…
soria has four pitches, and used to be a starter before kansas city drafted him.
he’ll provide more value starting, than relieving.
the only way i’d keeo him is a reliever is if he was a super reliever who pitched the 7th and 8th or 6th, 7th, and 8th in front of Mo.
This is a terrible idea.
no explanation as to why…good poster
You have no history of him as a MLB starter so why give up good young players for his unknown future as a starter? It is a dumb idea.
what’s the point of even discussing it, it’s not going to happen
this
Is there anyway they can bundle Russo ,Thames,Miranda,Cerevelli,Park, Gaudin AND Granderson, TO GET THEM THE HELL OFF THIS TEAM?
I KNOW. ITS LIKE WHY DIDNT MIRANDA HIT MORE THAN ONE HOME RUN TODAY. !!!! ONE ISNT ENOUGH IF YOU WANT TO BE A TRUE YANKEE.
miranda and for sure cervelli have and will be key parts on this team..a move we need, montero up now…he is hot hitting about .400 this month…two homers last night.. versus lefties …jeter..swisher. tex..arod ..cano…posada.. montero DH..thames in left.. gardner.. now we have a bench, and moves go be made.. we need a big right handed bat..montero is it.. forget dunn…k king..just like holliday..good nl player..
I’d offer Dayton Moore a player named Montario for Soria and see if he bites. Then you just need to find a guy named Montario.
*golf clap*
Well played Mo. I left it out of the piece (because it’s difficult to argue that the other GM will behave irrationally) but I agree that Dayton Moore is one of the consistently worst GMs in Baseball. He has handed out more bad contracts than I care to remember. The only real question is that maybe the situation is so bad that has to overpay to get guys to play there. That I don’t know, but what I do know is his track record is horrible.
[...] The problem with trading for Soria [...]
Yes, but it requires the use of psychedelic drugs and is therefore, unfortunately, illegal. I like your train of thought, though.