Headlines

  • Royals, Hunter Dozier Agree To Four-Year Extension
  • Giants, Scott Kazmir Agree To Minor League Deal
  • Kelvin Herrera Announces Retirement
  • Braves Extend Brian Snitker
  • Yankees Sign Justin Wilson
  • Braves Sign Jake Lamb
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Indians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2020-21 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2021
    • 2021 MLB Arbitration Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • Last 100 Comments
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Royals Sign Joakim Soria

By Mark Polishuk | December 10, 2015 at 5:36pm CDT

DECEMBER 10: The deal is official, with Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (via Twitter) and Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (Twitter links) providing details.

Soria will earn $7MM next year and receive successive $1MM raises for the next two campaigns. The mutual option is priced at $10MM and comes with a $1MM buyout. Soria’s incentive package tops out at $4MM annually and can be met through games finished or games started.

Needless to say, it’s a shock to hear that the sides have contemplated the use of Soria in a starting capacity, but that has indeed made its way into the contract as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported (via Twitter) would likely be the case. Entering his age-32 season, Soria has never started a big league game and made only 18 in the minors (excluding a one-inning rehab start in 2013).

DECEMBER 7: The Royals have a major new partner in their “law firm” of a bullpen, as the World Series champs are finalizing a three-year contract with right-hander Joakim Soria, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter link).  The deal will pay Soria $25MM in guaranteed money over the three seasons, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets, plus performance bonuses are available.  Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports that there is also a mutual option for a fourth season.  The contract will be official once Soria passes a physical, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan.  Soria is represented by Oscar Suarez.

Kansas City’s lockdown bullpen was one of the biggest factors behind its World Series championship, and adding Soria helps keep the pen strong after some recent personnel losses.  Greg Holland will miss most of 2016 due to Tommy John surgery and was non-tendered, Ryan Madson agreed to a deal with the A’s earlier today and Franklin Morales is also a free agent.

Soria, of course, is a familiar face in K.C. as he spent his first five Major League seasons as a Royal after being selected in the 2006 Rule 5 draft.  He blossomed into a star closer and recorded 160 saves from 2007-11 but then missed a season due to Tommy John surgery and hit the open market after the Royals declined their club option on his services.

Joakim Soria

Post-surgery, Soria has returned to being a strong relief arm, recording a 2.99 ERA, 9.3 K/9 and 3.59 K/BB rate over 135 2/3 innings with the Rangers, Tigers and Pirates.  Soria actually posted his highest-ever average fastball speed (92.2 mph) just last year, so his arm certainly appears to be fully recovered.  He’s been in demand at the last two July trade deadlines, first going from Texas to Detroit in 2014 and then last July to become a setup man for the Pirates.

With Wade Davis stepping in so brilliantly as the Royals’ closer after Holland went down, it’s probable that Soria (who turns 32 in May) will again take a setup role with his new team.  The combination of Davis, Soria and Kelvin Herrera is as scary a 7th-8th-9th combination as there is in baseball, and Luke Hochevar has also emerged as a force since converting to relief work in 2013.

The $25MM guarantee doesn’t quite match the $27MM Soria was reportedly looking for, though the performance bonuses will likely give him a good shot at matching or even surpassing that total (and he’ll obviously far surpass it if he and Royals both exercise that option for 2019).  As FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal wrote earlier today, Soria was looking for incentive clauses that would pay him extra if he did become a closer, so it’s fair to speculate that the bonuses in his Royals deal could address that possibility.  As the only pitcher with recent and significant closing experience on the open market, it’s interesting that Soria chose a club that doesn’t have a clear path to a closing job — that could be a response to the glut of star closers that have been available in trade talks this offseason.

The Royals have never given $25MM to a reliever before, and they’ve topped that mark for very few pitchers in general over Dayton Moore’s tenure as general manager.  Clearly they were open to spend to keep their bullpen at an elite level, and the extra revenue generated by the last two years of postseason baseball surely didn’t hurt in that respect.  The Tigers, Rangers, Blue Jays and Giants are a few of the other teams known to have interest in Soria this offseason.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports Images

Share 76 Retweet 22 Send via email0

Joakim Soria Kansas City Royals Newsstand Transactions

Orioles Claim Edgar Olmos, Designate Junior Lake
Main
Phillies To Sign Ernesto Frieri To Minors Deal
11 comments
newest oldest

Comments

  1. Michael

    5 years ago

    And the strong get stronger.

    Like
    Reply
    • AsFan89

      5 years ago

      Well, they did lose Gordon, Zobrist, Cueto, Madson and Young (at least for now).

      Like
      Reply
      • bradb4ku

        5 years ago

        I’m still holding out hope for Gordon but it looks like Zo is gone even though he named his daughter Royal.

        Like
        Reply
        • Cd360

          5 years ago

          Gordon is gone. Someone will overpay for him.

          Like
          Reply
      • Joseph Anderson

        5 years ago

        Any fan with half a brain new Zobrist, Cueto and Madson would leave. Chris Young is still under contract unless you know something nobody else in baseball knows. Gordon will probably go somewhere else for the money. He’ll throw out that if it weren’t for the Royals he’d be back in Lincoln playing independent league baseball.

        Like
        Reply
  2. formerlyz

    5 years ago

    Pretty cool to see him go back there. He was dominant then, and now they have a pretty dominant bullpen in general

    Like
    Reply
  3. bobbleheadguru

    5 years ago

    If someone tells me he will be a starter….

    Like
    Reply
  4. 1738hotlinebling

    5 years ago

    Awesome, now go get DeJesus back too

    Like
    Reply
  5. sdsuphilip

    5 years ago

    Soria has really only been good 1 of 4 years, his LOB% is no where near in line with recent previous years and in no way looks to be a skill of his, his ERA was flukish. He’s not terrible but he looks like a whatever middle reliever, he just used to be very good.

    Now this and Madson deal make me think Os getting possible steal with ODay, now while 4 years for any 33 year old can be risky especially one that can’t give you too much upside value because of lack of innings, O’Day has consistently outperformed his periphals for last 4years, so his fWAR in my view undersells him. He probably won’t continue to outperform it this much but gets really soft contact. For him to get slightly less AV (4/31 to 3/25) to soria, and barely higher than madson is really baffling to me.

    Like
    Reply
  6. truroyal15

    5 years ago

    Pretty cool to see him come back where it all started. Fan favorite for sure and great sign by Dayton!!!

    Like
    Reply
  7. bradb4ku

    5 years ago

    I don’t know how I feel about getting the Mexicutioner back. He was pretty bad by the time he left and then went to the hated Tigers.

    Like
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Royals, Hunter Dozier Agree To Four-Year Extension

    Giants, Scott Kazmir Agree To Minor League Deal

    Kelvin Herrera Announces Retirement

    Braves Extend Brian Snitker

    Yankees Sign Justin Wilson

    Braves Sign Jake Lamb

    Athletics Sign Mitch Moreland

    Yankees Re-Sign Brett Gardner

    Giants To Sign Jake McGee

    Mariners CEO Kevin Mather Resigns

    Recent

    Royals, Hunter Dozier Agree To Four-Year Extension

    NL Notes: Willis, Syndergaard, Myers

    NL Central Notes: Contreras, Mikolas, Brewers

    Braves Report Major Revenue Drop, Operating Losses In 2020

    Tigers Sign Drew Hutchison To Minors Deal

    Blue Jays Acquire Travis Bergen From Diamondbacks

    Health Notes: Pham, File, Rodriguez, Reyes

    Minor MLB Transactions: 2/28/21

    Cubs Designate Robert Stock For Assignment

    COVID Notes: Abreu, Montas, Happ, Cordero

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Kris Bryant Rumors
    • Jackie Bradley Jr. Rumors
    • Jake Odorizzi Rumors
    • Taijuan Walker Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • 2020-21 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2021
    • 2021 MLB Arbitration Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Indians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version