The Pirates and Tigers are nearing a trade that would send Joakim Soria to Pittsburgh, reports MLive.com’s James Schmehl (via Twitter). Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had recently reported (also via Twitter) that the Bucs had interest in acquiring Soria.
The Pirates have been known to be interested in bullpen help since last week and swung a minor deal to add Joe Blanton to the mix last night, but Soria would represent a much higher-profile addition to the Pittsburgh ’pen. A free agent at season’s end, the 31-year-old Soria is earning $7MM this season. He began the year as the Tigers’ primary setup option, but Joe Nathan blew out his arm in the early stages of the season, and Soria has seamlessly returned to a ninth-inning role with which he is quite familiar.
Soria has worked to a strong 2.85 ERA in 41 innings this season, although he’s also been uncharacteristically homer-prone, yielding what is already a career-high eight long balls on the season (1.76 HR/9). Home run rate can have quite a bit of randomness to it, so perhaps the Pirates are unconcerned (they’ve done well with other previously homer-prone arms such as A.J. Burnett and Mark Melancon). Both Soria’s walk rate (2.4 BB/9) and strikeout rate (7.9 K/9) are also down from an excellent 2014 season, but his bottom-line results remain strong.
It seems unlikely that Soria would supplant Melancon as the team’s closer, so the more likely scenario, if a trade is indeed completed, would be for Soria to share setup duties with left-hander Tony Watson, who is enjoying a strong season in his own right. The Pirates have received strong production from their relief corps as a whole, although it’s been somewhat of a top-heavy unit, and a rental of Soria would deepen the group and help take some pressure off the rotation in the season’s final months.
This post was originally published on July 30, 2015 at 4:48pm CT.
Would take some of the workload off Watson, and creates a nice trio of watson/soria/melancon
I can’t believe the jays didn’t get him included
Reports that he vetoed. He only had three teams on his no trade. Toronto was one of them.
Oh, yes, yes, yes!
What are the odds that Worley is in the deal? Hes not an AL pitcher.
under the 24 hour mark left of the deadline, time for more action. maybe elias diaz straight up?
I must say…. there is a lot less bad information floating around this year.
I’m going to guess either Tony Sanchez or Wily Garcia goes to the Tigers in this trade. I can’t see them trading Alen Hanson since he will replace Neil Walker at some point in the future.
Keon Broxton and maybe Adrian Sampson are other possible names that could go to the Tigers. They were scouting the Pirates AAA affiliate the past week or so.
Like this move for the Pirates. Soria and Blanton really strengthen that bullpen. Would still like to see the Pirates go after a starter as well before the deadline tomorrow. Cashner would make me happy.
I’m not sure Blanton is a positive. I mean it’s nice that they got him for free but they really needed another reliable bullpen arm since Arqimedes Camminero and Antonio Bastardo pretty much suck at this point.
This means “Star Lord Wilson” is going to have a shot at being the Tigers closer… if you are fantasy player, just pick him up.
Amazing “throw in” in that Porcello for Cespedes trade. Wilson is much more valuable than a draft pick.
I would bet that Rondon is given a test drive. If he fails, then they will look elsewhere. In spite of his awesome season, Ausmus just continues to use Wilson in 6th – 7th inning. Just hoping he doesn’t try Feliz in the closer role!