Despite Yankees GM Brian Cashman's insistence that the club will not surrender a first-round pick to sign any of the currently available Type A free agents, they are still in on Rafael Soriano, according to Jon Heyman of SI (via Twitter). Scott Boras, who represents the 31-year-old, recently said that his client would be open to a set-up role with the Yanks.
Meanwhile, Heyman says that the Angels could make a play for the right-hander, though the club needs to prioritize hitting over pitching. The White Sox have also been linked to Soriano but they are unlikely to pursue him unless his price drops significantly. We can also cross the Cardinals off of the list of potential suitors for Soriano as the club is said to be confident in both Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte.
Ya who should we believe. The GM who implicitly said he isn’t going to do something…or the pathetic mouthpiece of the agent who desperately needs to drum up interest. Sports Illustrated should be ashamed that he represents them. All writers do this to some degree…but Heyman is shameless. It’s a good thing most of us already know this song and dance.
I agree about Heyman, but just because a GM says something doesn’t necessarily make it true. Maybe Cashman is trying to lower the price on Soriano by saying “No way we give up a draft pick for anyone besides Lee.”
Trust me when I say Cashmans denials of interest mean nothing! Cue Johnny Damon and Mark Texeira!
After reading Cashman’s quote about not surrendering the 1st round pick to anyone other than for Cliff Lee, Jon Heyman looks like a complete dolt for posting this.
Surprise Boras client and Heyman says Yanks still in for him when all other writers say other wise go figure.
cashman would be lying… he told the world that they werent going after AJ or Teix two summers ago
ignorance. he never said he wasn’t going after AJ. And he said it would be highly unlikely that they could afford Tex and CC. He never just came out and 100% said no we aren’t going to do this. get your facts straight or shut your mouth.
naw… he said “We have CC were not going after any other starting pitcher”, then he said “We cant afford Teix and CC”…. What does that sound like to you? So shut your mouth and get your facts straight… you apparently got no clue.. Everybody “thought” he was going after AJ just like everybody thinks hes going after Soriano right now.. NO ONE knows until opening day
Littlefield’s credibility is right away hurt by the fact that he keeps calling him “Teix.” Anybody who follows closely baseball writing would probably recognize by now that his name is commonly abbreviated to Tex.
oh im sorry how do you spell his name? Mark TEIXeira??? thats odd, why would you say TEX if his name is TEIX???? I would say most people put TEX because they dont know how its spelled.. No one calls you JOHN instead of JON when we all know what it says.. what a joke
No. People may incorrectly spell his name but Teixeira shortened has been commonly referred to as TEX, never Teix. That’s like someone spelling Michael short as ‘Mich’ instead of Mike.
You’re both half right! (I don’t get the insults here though) Cashman had major interest in signing both Cc and Burnett but Texeira was supposed to be out of their price range and they had just acquired Nick Swisher to man first remember!
It’s silly that someone named RedSoxDynasty had to sort this out for us Yankees fans. But he has it completely correct.
It’s amazing how much The Hymen can work everybody up around here. We really shouldn’t let him get to us like this.
That is not true at all. From the get he said he was going after two starters to replace the spots held by Hughes and IPK in 2008. He did say he didn’t think he would have enough for Tex as well and said it was doubtful. That was of course when Boras was asking for $200 mil. Can’t blame Cash for not making his interest public. What for?
just reading some posts here…he Jonathan…who are you like an internet tough guy or something??…take it easy…would you go up to someone on the street and tell them to..they are ignorant or shut your mouth….must be nice sitting at your keyboard and being the baseball internet tough guy…..sheesh…lighten up..skippy
some people get all bent out shape on this web site, dont mention anything about a teams young pitcher or everybody will snap quickly and defend their man crush
I don’t any of us should get personal or take it personal but if someone says something that’s an “opinion” as if it’s a fact or says something factually wrong then I don’t see any problem correcting them. If it’s an innocent or trivial thing then you can let it slide but I find it hilarious when ppl are quite idignant about sunshine they say that’s completely wrong and would take about 2 seconds to fact check on a computer that they are typing on.
It’s very known that Braves and Yankees both bid on Burnett. Both offered a four-year deal, and rumors started that Braves offered him five-years, and Yankees went to five years also, but offered more than the reported money Braves offered. But, Braves only offered four years.
Good thing the braves didn’t get Burnett
Marginally good… with the money they saved they signed Lowe to a 4/$60M deal.
Marginally good? Burnett is terrible, they are lucky they didn’t blow tons of cash on that loogy
You should go compare Lowe and Burnett for 2009 and 2010 and then tell me the Braves made themselves a lot better by not having Burnett.
As bad a Burnett was last year he still threw alot of innings and won 10 games, 2 less than Cliff Lee. His career ERA is around 4 the same as Josh Beckett, and he’s pitched 2 more years than Beckett. He still has killer stuff, and I would think next this year he pitches to his career ERA again and wins 13 for the Yanks.
“and won 10 games, 2 less than Cliff Lee”
This is what you use? Well if you like W-L so much, maybe you should see that he also had 15 losses on the best offensive team in baseball. Burnett had a pretty bad year.
Without going into the doldrums of looking up run support, plus the fact that Lowe had the luxury of having a weak pitcher to throw to. I wouldn’t be complimenting the Braves much for the Lowe signing over Burnett and actually, u put Burnett back in the NL and he could probably be much better, where Lowe would almost certainly get blistered even worse than Burnett in any AL division.
i def could be wrong, but I think burnett still has the stuff to put together a respectable season. his occasional gems baffle me. i’ll never forget his performance in the 2009 world series. i really think it would be difficult for him to do worse this season than last season. i think 2011 for the yankees is very much contingent on his performance.
I put on the Yankee cap and tried to find a positive about AJ last year. I couldn’t haha. Ummm……when he lost boy did he get lit up?
I would still rather have AJ over Lowe. I almost always will go with the guy with great stuff but simply needs to get it together. He was decent in 2009 even though he was getting paid ace money for #3 production. Still, with AJ it’s all in between the ears and last year there were obviously some sort of off the field issues coupled with bad catching/game calling. So far, 1 good/decent year and 1 bad year. Three more to go. Let’s hope we can salvage some good pitching from his remaining 3 years. I’ll be happy with 200 IP, 200 +ko, less than 80 walks and a 4.00-4.15 ERA.
Why? 2009 World Series ring. Wouldn’t every team wish they could win once every five years? The red sox average once every forty six years?
Actually the Red Sox average every 15 years or so…. but who would expect a NYY fan to know how to do math. The Yankees average a championship every $2 billion, right?
A Red Sox fan talking about spending? Now I’ve seen everything.
waaaa waaaaaaa we have no money. how can we compete with the yankees. we can never sign free agents because we don’t have enough money. Didn’t the Sawx just hand out like 300 mil in contracts btw Crawford and the Gonzalez extension? And that 2007 offseason with Dice-K signing, JD Drew contract, Lugo (I think), and others. Yeah, the Red Sox are really poor.
Haven’t we moved past the Red Sox are poor and the Yankees are rich arguments?
You’re the first person I’ve ever heard say the Sox are poor. Of course they have money, they just don’t have the money that the Yankees have. The Yankees can have a $210-220 million payroll as their “limit” and the Sox have $170-180 million as their “limit.” Both teams can go above but the Yanks can always edge out the Sox by $30-40 million. That’s where the argument comes from along with the Yanks getting pretty much every free agent they have ever wanted. Oh and the Sox haven’t signed Gonzalez to an extension yet, parameters are set according to several sources but nothing has been agreed upon or signed yet. And even if the Sox sign A-Gon to an extension this off-season the Sox spending still pales in comparison to the off-season the Yanks had when they spent $423.5 million.
Hahaha….do you really think the Sox couldn’t afford to spend $200 mil + if they wanted to? Don’t they sell out that rather small stadium every year? Don’t they also own their own TV cable sports station? C’mon dude. It’s a matter of them not wanting to go over the luxury tax and eat an additional $30 mil.
Also, the Yanks didn’t ADD another $432 mil to the payroll. They repurposed money spent on 8 players w/ expired contracts.
I never said the Sox can’t touch $200 million, that’s why I put limit in quotations. But the Sox couldn’t have the same payroll as the Yanks if both teams tapped their resources. Im just saying the Yanks would still be able to have a payroll about $30-40 million higher than the Sox if both tapped their resources. Also I was talking contracts, not payroll, when talking about the $423 million. The point I was making there had to do with the Sox spending $300 million, which they haven’t yet, and that this off-season for the Sox is nothing compared to the money that the Yanks spent that off-season.
I guess if you include the decades 1900-1920’s for the Sox and exclude the decades 1920-2000 for the Yanks then yeah. If not then…..well you know? Scoreboard.
4 year 60 million contract for Lowe, 5 year 82.5 million contract for Aj, the braves did a heck lot better not getting Aj
Add in Lowes a playoff stud and the Braves did do better not getting AJ!
AJ was instrumental in helping the Yanks win their 1st WS since 2000 only 1 year ago. He got lit in Game 5 but he was lights on in Game 2 which gave the Yanks their first win of the series.
If you view it as a dollar vs dollar comparison then yes. But I think the opinion by most is that AJ would’ve performed better in the NL w/ the Braves where Lowe would’ve been lit up to AJ-esque proportions. The fact that the Braves wanted AJ over Lowe should say something about how they viewed the two as well.
That would’ve mean the Yanks would’ve probably signed Lowe. Lowe in the Al East in Yankee stadium doesn’t make me feel any better…haha.
Maybe Boras told Heyman that if he says that, he will allow Heyman to blow him. Dreams do come true
And MLBTR should know better than this. The title should read “Heyman says: Yankees in on Soriano.” Instead of taking him at his word. The fact that the write up doesn’t say anything about Heyman and his mouthpiece/liar status is alarming.
“according to Jon Heyman of SI ”
The moment I read this part was when I stopped reading and knew this was false.
I still think the Yanks could end up with Soriano. They haven’t made a big signing this year, and since no starting pitchers seem interesting to them, they can sign Soriano to have a beefed up pen and maybe sign a back end guy then be open to trades at the deadline if any starters are on the market.
They didn’t make a big signing last year either, although they made a “semi-Big” trade for Granderson, but perhaps that’s because they were coming off a WS championship so it wasn’t extremely important to sign anyone.
Haven’t made a big signing? I guess Jeter and Mo don’t count as big? Both got more per year then what Soriano is going to make. But Soriano will be a big signing?
Four years with an option for a 5th, I think (from the Braves, I mean).
Edit: yeah, looked it up… 4 years guaranteed with a “very attainable” vesting option for a 5th.
As a Rays fan I would love it if the Yankees signed Soriano. They’d be giving us their first round pick for nothing more than a set up man.
Pretty strong words considering without him, you’d have never won the division.
I am pretty sure they would. They are too good of a team to depend on a guy that pitched 62 innings. That is 4% of all the innings pitched by the Rays.
But the 9th inning is 100% of the innings that matter. In fact, they’re going to discuss just skipping the first 8 innings in the next CBA.
And closers are so unimportant that 100% of all teams want to either sign one or develop one of their starters into one. Closers are unimportant until you need one so you don’t keep losing games in the last two innings.
Really? “Just a set up man”? So you don’t say any scenario where the Yanks might want to rest their 41 year old closer who has had 2 consecutive years with a bruised abdominal muscle? You don’t see any situation where the Yanks might choose to have Soriano close the game versus bringing in Mo for a meaningless save when the Yanks might be up 5-2 in the 9th inning? Is it hard to think that MAYBE jussstttttt MAYBE a 41 yr old pitcher COULD possibly get hurt and jeopardize the playoff team with the $200 mil playoff payroll with the “win now” attitude?
I love draft picks as much as the next guy but I also know that while Cashman probably won’t trade a top 5 player for a stop gap anymore, I do know that we DO need to improve this team sometime this year and it will be a prospect of some sort being moved. I would rather not use a top 10 prospect for a reliever if I can use $$$$ and an “unknown quantity”.
A deep, deep draft means that the #31 pick should be a good player but it also means that the #45 should be pretty d@mn good too and that a lot of high risk/high reward players with signability issues are going to fall deep into the supplemental portion of the 1st and well into the 3rd in lieu of easier to sign HS and college players.
Cashman says he’s not in on Soriano. Angels seem to not be in on Soriano. Heyman insists the Yankees and Angels are still in on Soriano.
Doesn’t Heyman have a reputation for being a stooge for Boras?
Oh just sign him because the bullpen needs a decent arm
Aj and his fat 5 year 82.5 million contract had nothign to do with them winning the world series, the Red Sox do no average one every forty six years, they have seven. Come to me when you find the real average
2 World Serries in the last 92 years, hey, you’re better than the cubs! LMAO
If the Yankees’ championships from the ’20s count, the Red Sox from the couple decades before that count too.
Or we could just pick the period that suits us. In the last 10 years, Boston’s got 2 and the Yankees 1.
Or we could just focus on who’s good, you know, NOW.
Can’t wait for the season to start!
If we can pick and choose then I’ve seen just as many Yankee WS, personally, since 1978 than a 110 year old Red Sox fan would’ve seen in their entire lives.
Haha, yeah, calling the Sox 86 years a drought would be an insult to drought. And of COURSE the Yankees have more championships all-time than the Sox (or anyone!). But people who think Boston’s only got two ever but reach back as far as they can to get the Yankees to 27 are pretty stupid. At least know your history! Or, you know, just don’t cite history. Either way.
2 World Series in the last 7 years, hey, we’re better than the Yanks! LMAO
Still holding on to those 5 prior to 1920, huh? Ironically, they all came before the Green Monster was the Green Monster.
Aj and his fat 5 year 82.5 million contract had nothign to do with them winning the world series, the Red Sox do no average one every forty six years, they have seven. Come to me when you find the real average
So winning Game 2 when trailing 1-0 was unimportant? Okay.
I think he means AJ’s contract had nothing to do with winning the championship. As in he could have signed any contract with the yankees and they still would have won.
I don’t really agree, because the braves were very close in the bidding for him. If the yankees didn’t add the year/money then he’d be a brave.
Get Pettitte to return, sign Garcia as the 5th, sign Soriano, Belflour, Fuentes, Vlad and trade for Soria. This would be a Yankee bridge year.
While you are at it deck the dugout in gold and trade Joba for Roy Halladay
Nope. They already traded him for Soria.
4 year 60 million contract for Lowe, 5 year 82.5 million contract for Aj, the braves did a heck lot better not getting Aj
The Braves offer to Burnett was 4 years $66M with a vesting option for a 5th. So they save probably $6M for very similar peripherals.
I had thought that the Braves and Yankees both offered very similar deals, a little over $80 million each, but Burnett took the Yankees deal. I’ll have to re-check
I had thought that the Braves and Yankees both offered very similar deals, a little over $80 million each, but Burnett took the Yankees deal. I’ll have to re-check
Mmmmmmmm No! Where is the ring?
Yankees have 0 world series in the last year! LMAO, as worse as any team, even the royals and Pirates, see everyone can do that
….and red sox. Simple minded monster.
History’s greatest simple minded monster.
Ok Yanks have more WS rings than the Red Sox in the last 3 years. Wow. That’s meaningful.
I would like to see the Yanks sign Soriano and go with 2 young pitchers in the rotation if Pettitte doesn’t come back. Give Nova the 4th spot and use spring training to get your 5th starter out of Brackman,Noesi, and Phelps.
How’d Beckett look last year after his contract!
Injured…
Is that the excuse? 3 years of injuries….
Excuse? He missed over a third of the season.
How did he look the first few years of his contract, and Aj did great to, oh wait.
Pedroia says to Youk, I make 4 mill you make 9 mill and we have to watch Lackey 18 mill and Beckett 12 mill laser show!
And Ortiz makes $12.5 million. I wonder they will feel when the Sox sign another player from outside the organization (Gonzalez) for $25+ million each year. That is down right Yankeeish…….
Whats more funny is Ortiz his .270/.370/.529 with 32 HRs 102 RBI’s 86 runs scored and an OPS+ of 137 is extremely similar to A-Rods .270/.341/.506 with 30 HRs 125 RBIs and 74 Runs scored and an OPS+ of 123, and Ortiz is almost 20Mil less….Besides, when Youk and Pedroia come out from under team control, they will get their big contracts.
Whats more funny is Ortiz his .270/.370/.529 with 32 HRs 102 RBI’s 86 runs scored and an OPS+ of 137 is extremely similar to A-Rods .270/.341/.506 with 30 HRs 125 RBIs and 74 Runs scored and an OPS+ of 123, and Ortiz is almost 20Mil less….Besides, when Youk and Pedroia come out from under team control, they will get their big contracts.
Dear Brian Cashman,
Please tell me how you are going to sign Rafael Soriano without surrendering a 1st round draft pick?
Love,
The New England Foundation for the Criminally Insane
Uh, do I have to spell this out for you?
He’s going to buy the Elias Sports Bureau and change the ranking system.
Duh.
Hmmmmm….funny, I didn’t know that Heyman was speaking for Cashman. Maybe that means he’s speculating? Cashman has never said he was signing Soriano right? Until he does, then I’ll assume by saying he won’t give up the #1 then it mean he won’t sign either Soriano or Balfour.
I’m sure this has already been brought up several times. But why would the Yankees be the least bit concerned about their first-round draft pick? It’s not like they ever have to rely on top prospects. I’m not saying that they never develop their own stars. But by and large, they mostly rely on signing the best free agents every winter (which, of course, backfired this winter. But still).
I think if I were Cashman, I’d much rather have Soriano than a late first-round draft pick who may or may not ever pan out. Even if that draft pick is going to Rays.
Yankees have a top 6 farm. With the pitching market shrinking and young talent being locked up it is extremely important to develop from within.
Giving up the 1st rnd doesn’t mean you’re giving up on developing the farm. They still have a sup 1st rnd pick not to mention all the others for rounds 2-whatever. They also can be major players in the international market this year.
A top 6-8 farm and of all of the Yanks top 20 prospects only Brackman and Culver are 1st rnd picks.
Besides, it makes for a more cinderellaesk story if a player comes from nothing to become a star, like Albert Pujols.
I think Heyman is one of the best MLB writers especially compared to a stone hack like Verducci.That said,Jon does carry water for Boras.
if heyman said the sun will rise in the east tomorrow i would doubt his story
Just out of curiosity, if a Type A FA remains unsigned on Opening Day, does the team that signs him still have to surrender the draft pick?
What if that player is still unsigned after the draft in June? What happens then?
I’m pretty sure it’d be that a team would surrender the next years draft pick. I don’t think it’s ever been an issue in the past, and the only reason Soriano is still a FA is because of his asking price. He’s been a hell of a reliever for years but only as a closer for a few so if he were originally asking for $5 M a year and not whatver it would have gone a lot more swiftly for him.
With the offseason the Angels are having, you have to wonder why they wouldn’t throw rediculous numbers at Soriano to sign him. Missing out on C.C, only missing on Beltre by $3 M it must be a hard time to be a Halos fan.
They wont throw ridiculous money at him because they haven’t thrown ridiculous money at players the needed more than Soriano. They could still get him, and trade some pitching for hitting down the line since they would have a pretty packed bullpen. But they still aren’t going to overpay for him.
Does Scott Boras keep John Heyman on retainer? Heyman is such a shill for all of Boras’ clients.
I’ll believe the Soriano to Yankee rumor when it is reported by someone other than a Boras employee (Heyman). Boras needs to get someone to show interest in his client.
I’m not sure why Cashman would give a multi-year contract to a set-up man in Soriano, especially after giving a multiyear deal to Rivera. Plus, the Yankees would have to surrender a draft pick to the team who won the AL East last year. It doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint, and the Yankees biggest need is starting pitching anyway.
Soriano would be better off either going to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or back to Tampa on a 1 year deal and take his chances with the 2011 free agent market. Plus, this way, Boras can make an extra commission, which everyone knows, is exactly what Scott Boras would prefer.
As a Phils fan, I would love this. With Lidge coming off the books next year, he would make a fine addition.
Can we just go with “Yankees might be in on Soriano” and call it a day until we get some real information?
There is real information if you look what it says. The Yankees want nothing to do with Soriano, and are not talking to Boras about him. Boras is using his normal Yankee Card, to boost Soriano’s market. Notice how its Boras and Soriano saying that he would set up for the Yankees, not the Yankees saying they want Soriano to Set up for them. All the info is there, you just gotta read it.
So they still are “in” on Soriano but do not want to give up the draft pick that it will require to sign him…makes lots of sense. Let some other team sign him and then trade Jesus Montero for him. Thats one of the only ways that is happening.
Right because that’s what the Rays gave up for him when they traded for him from the Braves right? A top 5 prospect or did they trade a journeyman minor leaguer?
So you are telling me you think his value is the same now as when the Rays acquired him from the Braves?
So you are telling me you think his value is the same now as when the Rays acquired him from the Braves?
I doubt this happens. I could see them signing Fuentes, he would be cheaper and less of an excess in years and dollars. They don’t need Soriano, they need a solid bullpen piece. Unless they trade Joba and prospects for a SP or someting I just don’t see this happening.
I got a good laugh the other night when Verducci looked at Costas and rolled his eyes when Hymen was talking about steroids and the Hall of Fame. I can’t believe the MLB Network actually lets Hymen sit at a table with Tom Veducci who is a real sports journalist. The biggest crime is that somebody gives Hymen a Hall of Fame ballot to fill out each year.
He’s not worth losing a #1 prospect for.
Shill Heyman at it again. Its tough calling this guy a journalist. He should be working for the Weekly World News