Free agent reliever Rafael Soriano will have an open throwing session for Major League clubs in the Dominican Republic next Thursday, his new representatives at Octagon announced (via Twitter). Soriano jumped from Scott Boras to Octagon last week, presumably due to the fact that he remains unsigned in early June.
Soriano, 35, did not go without interest from big league clubs this winter. He was tied to a number of clubs, including the Blue Jays, Marlins, Cubs and Twins at various points over the past several months — in some cases, even after the regular season began. However, no club has made an offer that was to the liking of Soriano and his now former agent. While their specific asking price remains unknown, reports following the Marlins’ most recent interest indicated that Miami simply didn’t feel Soriano would be enough of an upgrade over its internal options after watching him throw.
The former Nationals, Rays and Yankees closer will have the opportunity to convince other teams that Miami was incorrect in its assessment next week. However, Miami’s supposed review of Soriano’s arsenal isn’t the first underwhelming take on the right-hander’s arsenal that has been reported. Late in the offseason, Buster Olney of ESPN said that scouts felt Soriano’s stuff evaporated late in the 2014 season, as he pitched to an 6.48 ERA in the second half and ultimately lost his grip on the closer’s role to Drew Storen. Of course, quite a bit of time has passed both since that report and since the end of last season, so it’s entirely possible that Soriano is throwing much better than he was last September.
Earlier today, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said that he’s hoping to add a right-handed reliever to his bullpen, and obviously the club is more than familiar with Soriano, who spent two seasons there and served as the club’s closer in 2012 when Mariano Rivera was lost for the season due to a torn ACL.
The Blue Jays have long been said to be eyeing relief help, and while they clearly weren’t comfortable meeting his asking price in the past, it’s possible that Soriano’s financial goals have changed with new representation in tow. The Braves last night were said to be on the lookout for bullpen help as well, although that particular report indicated that they’d prefer not to spend big money to add it.
The Mariners and Dodgers are among the other teams reportedly seeking bullpen help, although as is the case each summer, there’s no shortage of clubs looking for relief upgrades. In a recent poll conducted by MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth, our readers pegged the Cubs, Blue Jays and Tigers, respectively, as the likeliest teams to add Soriano.
Comeon AA, this is the perfect move!
And that is why it won’t happen.
If he wants to close games, no other team has a bigger opening for that then the Blue Jays. Cecil going back to setup games is going to help the team a lot. Jays have been so poor in high leverage situations that anyone with major league success would help them.
I would think the Mariners have just as big of a need at closer as the Jays..
Jays haven’t closed a game since May 4th and they’re the leader in the AL with 9 blown saves and have a horrific 40% conversion rate on saves which is the worst in the Majors. They have 6 saves currently for the year. Remember blown saves doesn’t mean the closer blows the game for them, they’ve had poor high leverage relievers all year.
The Mariners have a lot of bullpen arms capable of closing, Carson Smith and Tom Wilhelmsen are very capable of doing so. With Furbush in the mix the Mariners don’t need a 4th arm.
This is why i laugh, when people say closers are overrated. Not just anyone can close a game.
Absolutely, a lot of pressure in closing a tight game.
Mariners have the arms but Lloyd only wants experience closers and Wilhelmsen not an option apparently
I don’t buy that, sounds like something Jack Z’s saying because they’re paying Rodney a ton of money.
Given what I heard about Lloyd and closers from his time with the Pirates, sticking with them for to long, I believe it.
The sad thing is there has on only been about 2 save opportunities since May 4th and they have both been complete games. We either always blow the other team out or lose
We blew 2 saves in Houston with Hendriks/Loup. We blew 2 in Minnesota before Colabello played hero. Dellabar blew one against the Angels when Marc Krauss hit a 2-run double.
You can just look at all the gamelog over the last month and the bullpen’s footprints are all over every loss.
One question only… Does Soriano still have what it takes? I’m thinking MLB teams, Jays included, aren’t convinced that he’s enough of a difference-maker to be paid the big bucks he wants,
Lets be honest, the only reason he is unsigned is because his former agent was boras.
Really hope the Pirates are there. He’d be an upgrade over Bastardo, Scahill, Worley and possibly Hughes.
Definitely not an upgrade over Hughes. Agreed he would be an upgrade over Bastardo (so far) and Scahill, but I don’t think Soriano would be interested in signing somewhere to be the 4th or 5th guy in a bullpen’s pecking order.
Speaking of righty FA relievers over 30, what’s up with Brian Wilson? His per 9 stats weren’t the worst last year and he was sitting at 94 MPH early in ’14 even if it declined late.
Was staring in Broadway the last time I heard anything about him? Probably going to take the year off.
That’s right, he’s doing his best Charlie Sheen impression.
What was he staring at? Kristen Chenoweth?
dodgers sign soriano to dfa him.
If he’s willing to take a 1 year deal the Braves should really consider throwing the money at him. What’s it hurt? Pretty sure we are well under payroll this year. So as long as he’s ok with it being 1 year this seems like a no brainer unless the Braves just want to be cheap which is a strong possibility
The fact that he is still unemployed serves him right.. He was a big baby in New York and seemed to always have an attitude problem.. When he would skip press conferences and then blame the Yankees pr guy, or when he openly blamed the hitters for a losing streak.. The thing that bothered me the most was the way he untucked his shirt after he finished a game.. I remember something about him being left out of the all star game last year and he was pouting about it.. As far back as his days in Tampa he was considered bad for the clubhouse.. I will admit I haven’t heard much about his days in Washington but if he still has that attitude then I am sure that is not helping his chances in finding a job..
Oakland?
Boston?
I think the problem is that Soriano is perceived as high risk, and you don’t know how to price him. Can he actually close, can he be an 8th inning guy, or is he just another arm?. If you can buy him cheap, and he doesn’t have it anymore, you DFA him. But if you pay closer/8th inning money for him, you will feel foolish. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Drew and Morales experience of last year plays in as well. They were paid a lot to come in unprepared and unready–and the results showed itself.
Agree 100%. Looks like MLB made it obvious they weren’t going to pay his previous asking price. My guess is that SOMEbody will take a flyer on him, but… on what kind of contract? I’d guess the safest bet would be something heavily incentive-laden; if Soriano truly is confident he can put up the numbers, he’d accept that, I would think.
Tigers. Soriano (8th) -> Soria (9th) makes sense as a flyer…. but has to be incentive based. His competition would be Joba, who has a under 2ERA, but an over 1.5 WHIP.
I’ll be surprised if the Win-Now Mariners aren’t interested in Soriano. Rodney has been awful this year.