Surprising news tonight emerges courtesy of John Heyman (who has gotten a bad rap this offseason, but deserves credit for reporting the “mystery team” in on Cliff Lee as well as breaking this news), who broke the news that the Yankees have reportedly signed Tampa closer Rafael Soriano to a 3-year deal for around $35 million. Soriano, who saved 45 games last season for the Rays, will likely serve as the primary setup man to Mariano Rivera, and will presumably have the unenviable task of succeeding the great Rivera. Soriano is cashing on on a career year in which he a 1.73 ERA, a 2.81 FIP, but was worth just 1.6 WAR (psst, closers aren’t worth very much, and neither are setup men).
I am fairly shocked by this news since Brian Cashman insisted that the Yankees would do everything they could to keep their first-rounder in the loaded 2011 draft, and signing Soriano gives that pick to division rival Tampa. I will have more thorough analysis tomorrow when I have some time to think this over, but at present I’m not pleased with this signing, and I imagine I’m not the only one. It smells like a panic move, and not the type of decision that should be made by a GM preaching patience. I’m about to run out, but post thoughts/updates in the comment section, and I will address this issue more thoroughly tomorrow.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
36 Responses to Yanks Sign Soriano, Infuriate Blogosphere
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Since we learn how Cash rolls now, I have renewed hope for Joba in the rotation. Come on Cash…. now that Andy isn’t coming back and there’s 2 spots in the rotation….. let Joba have one? I don’t see a reason for this not to happen now.
It’s as if Jon Heyman actually knows what he’s doing and people on Twitter are just people with too much access to the Internet. Heyman comes across as a prick, but he does his job well.
Terrible, horrible deal for the Yankees. Not only do they surrender a draft pick, but they gave Soriano yearly opt outs in the deal. They assume all the risk for Soriano getting injured again, but Soriano gets to leave for greener pastures if there is any upside. Wow.
I dont like the deal either, but the opt-outs dont bother me. A strict 3 year deal gives you no outs. With the opt-outs, if he has one great year, he may opt-out looking for a final payday.
Yep. I understand the injury risk, but I’ll be thrilled if he pitches great this year, leaves and we get the draft picks back next year.
You and others keep making the opt-out argument, and I still think its completely illogical. Sure, Soriano could have a great year, opt out, and find some team to sign him to a big deal, and the Yankees walk away with a draft pick. Or, he could do something in the range of possibilities from being only decent (3.50 ERA, 70 innings) to being completely terrible (Injured, ineffective, whatever), and the Yankees are stuck with him for 2 more years.
There’s no upside, and there’s only downside. If he’s good, he’s gone, and if he’s bad, he stays and gets paid big money. Opt outs can never be good for teams.
I disagree. If he’s good, you get one good year and two draft picks out of him after only giving up one. There is legit upside there.
If he is that good and opts out, the Yankees have to offer arbitration to retain the picks. That lets him earn even more through arbitration, shoudl he accept it. An overpaid set-up man ends up being even more overpaid.
great signing..mo no longer pitches 2 innings.. with the lack of a strong rotation, the pen will be over worked..we need all the stoppers we can get..would liked to have downs vs that ex met.. we gave zero players only money..we have a shut down guy ,instead of a pick,,how many of them work out..and need to wait years if he does prove his #1 rating..AL tough tested..i will sleep better tonight..just please no andrew jones..lard ass, lazy .200 hitter with Ks as his middle name..
Come on, it’s a great move. A starter goes every 5th day. Boston laid out a ton of money for lee who will pitch every 5th day. Soriano and Rivera will effect almost every game – either together or seperately. It dilutes the effectiveness of the money Boston spent. Also, games are now 7 innings – and only 5 or 6 in big games. This signing guards against a Rivera injury or, God forbid, a Rivera decline. Can you imagine if this deal wasn’t made and Rivera either declines or winds up on the disabled list?? This is a great move.
well said, only lee is in philly,
HA! Have Boston on the mind!
Are people still using the every 5th day line? Seriously? CC Sabathia faced 970 batters last year. Soriano faced 221. Not anywhere near worth the money.
So much for ‘patience’ – CASH is back!
Tyler Kepner of The New York Times tweets that the Scott Boras client will make $11.5MM if he opts out after one year and $21.5MM if he opts out after year two. The contract is pending a physical.
Let’s assume there’s another year at 10.5 and a buyout of a few mil. That takes the contract to the reported 35 mil. This contract is a bit front loaded, where Soriano makes 11.5 the first year and 10.5 each year in 2012 and 2013.
Do you think they’ll be an offer of more than 21 mil out there for him next year? Maybe, he’ll be 31 and he got 35 mil this year. Opting out would also mean he was relatively healthy this year, further boosting his FA stock. If there is a big offer out there in 2012, then we get the draft pick back after next season.
I really want to know who the Yankees thought they were bidding against to offer him such a favorable deal. Its not like tons of teams were in the rumors looking to sign him. Why not just give him a 1 year deal, instead of essentially giving him 1 year + 2 player options?
I’m still waiting for word that there was a coup in the yankee front office. This goes against everything Cashman has shown the past few years, from giving a reliever multiple years, to giving up a premium draft pick, to even giving the player all the leverage with several opt out clauses. I’m just baffled by this, and it comes off as a panic move to me.
I’m trying hard to see this as a positive, in that the bullpen (provided Soriano stays healthy and effective) is quite strong, but does that really matter if our rotation remains fragile?
I like the deal.
We have plenty of young players in the pipeline, the pick wasn’t a huge need.
Give Joba a chance to start again.
I LIKE IT…..I LIKE IT A LOT!! The Yanks now have a part of the pitching staff that is top-notch, and hopefully they can still come through with a trade for a solid pitcher by the July deadline. How many #1 draft picks pan out anyway? The Yankees with who’s top players are “30-something” like A-Rod, Jeter, CC, are a “now” team and therefore have to go for it now to make those contract viable.
The silver lining with the opt-outs is the real possibility that squads like the Cards, Rox, Angels, White Sox, maybe even the Twins could look to add a quality closer any time. There will be a small market for Soriano, and if the guy for wahtever reason doesn’t like the idea of spending another season in a non-closer role, then chances are Soriano opts out after year 1.
Offer arbitration which Boras will advise to turn down. Soriano nets us a type-A haul.
we should have just picked up woods option. woods is far better than soriano.
wrong
Am I the only one who really really likes this deal?? As far as the draft pick goes, who cares?? Everyone is acting like that draft pick was going to be the next Sandy Koufax or Babe Ruth. There’s a better chance that the player selected won’t make it past AAA versus being an All-Star. Now as far as the money goes, again, who cares??? It aint our money. Plus I highly doubt a large contract like this one will limit what the yankees want to do. Money is no object to them. Besides, I much rather have them overpay a great pitcher than sign a decent one to a team-friendly deal.
agree
Signing Soriano and losing the pick isn’t the end of the world, but Soriano isn’t a great pitcher. He’s a guy who is unlikely to ever pitch more than 4% of the team’s innings. Small potatoes.
its my dying wish that bloggers will finally stop citing fWAR when talking about relievers. fWAR has always underrated relievers, but ESPECIALLY the elite ones. bloggers that constantly say “well yes, (insert stud relief ace here) is awesome, but even an awesome reliever is only worth 2 fWAR.”
the fact is theyre not. relieveing is not starting, which is what fWAR was built to judge. thats why it uses FIP. FIP normalizes BABIP and HR rate, even though relief aces like soriano and rivera (and soria, and joe nathan, etc etc) have made it clear that their BABIP and HR rates arent flukes. yet we all continue to unfairly underrate them with fWAR.
i’m not saying its the greatest signing in the world, but u cant cite fWAR when talking about a shutdown relief ace and expect ppl to take that statement seriously
A very valid point, I agree WAR may not work great for relievers. At the same time, however, a good reliever will pitch around 60-80 innings per year, a number of which will be with 2-3 run leads, and hence, not enormously high-leverage situations. I agree it’s hard to quantify the value of a reliever, but at the same time, it’s hard to argue that this wasn’t an overpay.
Some excellent posts on this thread. I especially like slugger’s comments about rp value determination.
I read somewhere else that they have identical career WHIPs.
It’s very likely to make us better next year, and then we’ll likely have a pitcher or two ready for the big leagues.
I like the signing.
The team is better than it was yesterday, and the farm system isn’t worse. There is coverage for a perceived strength that was largely focused on a 41-year-old doing things we really haven’t seen before. Opt outs = 2 picks following what had to be one or more good years from Soriano. And really, what’s the big deal if they overpaid a bit? How many of us will ultimately be affected directly?
I too hope that this means Joba will start. Or be traded for a starter. Even if that doesn’t happen, they’ll win more games than they would have otherwise, and Girardi will be very excited by additional opportunities to make pitching changes.
Factor out the money gamble the deep-pocketed Yankees can easily risk and this leaves us with is Soriano worth a Rd#1 draft pick versus did they need to do something this year. There are an awful lot of 30-somethings on this Yankees roster and not much time left to cash in on their talents. We say spend it now while Yanks have a legit shot at taking down a pennant and worry about draft picks some other season when rebuilding (or restocking) comes more seriously into play. Several quality SP in Yanks pipeline, and it is still not out of the question that the Yankees come up with a much-needed SP and a right-handed bat. This is only one move — and a good one.
this could open a move to trade joba for a starter…
I really like the signing. First of all it gives the Yanks a lock down reliever for the eigth inning, something they didn’t have last year until they traded for Kerry Wood. It leaves the 7th inning to Joba, Robertson, Logan etal. But does it open a spot in the roation for Joba? I hope so.
As to giving up a 1st round pick,they will get two for him if and when Sorianno decides to opt out. But if Sorianno is smart, he will transition to the closer role in 2013 and become the next Mo.
I really like the deal!
What a terrible signing.. even if I try to understand that they are planning to replace Mo with Soriano.. They gave Soriano two player option outs after each of the first two years! He could have a career year in 2012 and then opt out and go somewhere else and all this was for nothing.. so dumb nothing like 35 mil for a 8th inning guy, let alone give up a first round pick.
how many teams can give him 14 plus mil and be in the playoffs every year? if he has a huge year and opts out that means we probably had a great year also..it also buys time to continue to tweek the pen and get to the “B”boys..he leaves we get the pick back..it is only a seven inning game now..during the playoffs with a lead, the other club will say get a lead before mo, now its huge pressure on them for those seven..lets hope he has the same year as last..what we need to worry about is alex hitting more than 30homers and tex not start hitting in june or july..what if we signed lee to that deal and his back went out..25mil a year..then we have problems..
Yaaaaaaaa! I’ve been waiting for this move for 2 months!
[...] Late this afternoon, word came that Rafael Soriano was shut down with more elbow soreness (h/t RAB via Jerome Preisler) with no timetable for a return. Best. Signing. Ever. [...]