In late February, Jeff Todd asked MLBTR readers which team would sign free agent closer Rafael Soriano, and a bit more than a quarter of you thought he would end up with the Blue Jays. Almost three months later, the Scott Boras client remains a free agent, so now seems like a good time to revisit the question.
Near the beginning of the season, the Twins and Tigers each reportedly showed at least some interest, although perhaps not much. The Reds then ruled themselves out as candidates to sign Soriano. Later, the Mariners reportedly had at least some contact with Soriano. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman also suggested that the Indians, Dodgers and Pirates might also be possibilities, although those seemed speculative. It seems unlikely that the Dodgers would pursue Soriano now given how good their bullpen has been, and the Pirates don’t seem particularly likely given their strong interest in ground-ball pitchers. The Marlins were the next team to be connected to Soriano, although early last week it emerged that they had lost interest. By late last week, he’d been connected to the Cubs.
More speculatively, the Padres are a potential contender with a struggling bullpen, although they’re set at closer and could prefer the talent they have on hand. The Red Sox are in a somewhat similar boat, although calling them a “potential contender” might strike some of their fans as off base, even though they aren’t yet out of contention. The Diamondbacks are near .500 and recently bumped Addison Reed from their closer role. The Rangers also have an unsettled closer situation and are on the fringes of the AL Wild Card race at this early point in the season, although Shawn Tolleson got two saves this week and has pitched well all year, suggesting he might fit well at closer. The Rockies have a poorly performing bullpen and might be convinced to sign Soriano if he were cheap enough, but are far enough out of contention that the upside of such a move would be limited.
The number of fits is unclear, then, and much could depend upon Soriano’s cost. There’s also the issue of his likely performance — the Marlins reportedly backed away because they felt Soriano wasn’t an upgrade. That might sound wrong for a pitcher who’s had 107 saves total over the past three seasons, but Soriano is 35 and posted a 6.48 ERA in the second half last season.
So who will ultimately sign Soriano?
I would love to see the Jays get him, only because our bullpen has been so terrible. But I don’t see the bullpen remaining this terrible all season long.
It doesn’t matter if they get him at this point. The entire pitching staff is a dumpster fire. You can’t fix that in one season.
True… But the rotation *looks* worse because Gibby lets them get guys on, then brings in the bullpen to let those guys score, so the bullpen looks a bit better on paper than they are and the rotation, looks worse than they are. Albeit the rotation is still awful, they’ve been better of late.
I don’t think it’s John Gibbons’ fault, quite honestly. He’s not the guy keeping pitches up in the zone or leading the league in walks. And the bullpen has been so taxed to-date, I can’t blame him for trying to get an extra inning out of his starters. I think they just simply overrated the potential of that staff.
Also agreed, but buehrle had a few starts early on he went 5-6 shutout innings, and only threw like 75 pitches and was pulled… that, I don’t understand. He wasn’t hurt.
Gibbons probably didn’t like what he was seeing. That doesn’t surprise me much, either. It’s not a science. If the pitchers want more faith from their manager, then they simply need to pitch better.
Paritally agree. If a guy’s got 5-6 innings of shutout ball, and your bullpen is taxed and you’ve thrown 75 pitches… Whatever he’s been doing has worked so far. Might as well give him a chance. If a guy has given up 3-4 runs and he’s at 95 pitches, Gibby will send him back out… I’d say 5-6 shutout innings with 75 pitches is damn effective and efficient.
I’d like to think so, but consider what ya just said. If Gibby leaves him out there and he allows a runner or two that ultimately comes around to score, you’re on him because you left him in too long; if he pulls him before he gets into trouble, you’re on him because he should have left him in longer. I understand what you’re getting at, but there could be other things at work that we don’t know (maybe Gibbons knows that Buehrle is more susceptible to getting rocked after six and two-thirds, for instance… I’m just spit balling here). The ultimate answer is this: the pitchers need to be better. If the starters aren’t wobbly, they don’t get yanked seemingly at will; if the bullpen is better, the starters aren’t undermined and ultimately look better as a result. Nothing for or against Gibbons (I’m not a huge fan, personally), but I can appreciate how managers get way too much praise when stuff goes right, and way too much blame when players don’t perform.
We all knew the rotation was under performing and likely to turn it around enough to regress to around career averages. The bullpen however has not helped for the few quality starts in which the offense scored 5 and still blew because you know having just Osuna and Cecil being able to throw a shutout inning isn’t any good. Hendriks is a legit ticking timebomb and there’s a reason Gibbons has only put him out twice in high leverage hold situations.
Osuna can’t throw 100+ innings this year which is what the Jays probably need to stay in those close games they generally lose in the 7th,8th and 9th.
“There have been 9 games where the Blue Jays were tied or were leading in the 7th inning or later, and ultimately lost the game.”
In simple terms:
“The Blue Jays have blown 9 leads, but only have 3 ‘come from behind’ wins.” – May 20th 2015.
The narrative of this season has Jays lose close games because team can’t keep it close late. Gibbons has stated himself that the lack of quality pen arms has forced him to leave in a starter way past the time he’d usually pull them.
Paps is available ( At a reasonable Price too ! ) It’s on the Toronto GM that he’s hasn’t made a trade for the Veteran All-Star reliever, the asking Price would be reasonable too, Pompey has been flop in American League let see if the Boy can play at all in the National. I base this on his current Play , which would be a gamble on the part of Phillies since he proven nothing !
I could see an unnamed team grabbing him for half a season closer to the deadline and then trading away some of their in house bullpen arms to fill a need elsewhere.. He could then reestablish some value for next year. If Joe Nathan can sign a good multi-year deal pushing 40 then I am sure Soriano can at 36.
Outside the box: Phillies pick him up to either flip at the deadline or have him close and trade Papelbon. Having him pitch keeps Giles’ arbitration numbers low.
My question still remains, how much could he possibly be asking for that he’s been unable to reach a consensus on a deal? It seems rather crazy that he hasn’t signed some type of deal at this point.
Odds are that whoever signs him is going to be sorry.
Braves are a fit, might have wasted too much money on callapso and cahill. The bullpen needs another arm. Filp him at the deadline to a contender for a b/c prospect and/or cash considerations.
Wouldn’t mind another arm in the Rangers bullpen to replace Feliz.
Anyone who follows the Indians knows the owner will not pay what Scott Boras will ask for Soriano.
Rakuten Eagles
This sounds weird, but if the Tigers picked up Soriano, who would they drop? Chamberlain has an ERA in the 1s. Alex Wilson has been great and can pitch multiple innings. Al Al is back on track. Rondon is taking steps towards coming back. Soria is perhaps a top 3 closer in the AL at the moment.
He won’t go to the Cubs. He took a big issue with the way Maddon used him at the end of his last year in Tampa. I think he’ll remember that.
I don’t think beggars can be choosers at this point.
He’d compliment Jared Hughes, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon well.
The way teams have been running away from Soriano, he’s either asking for a crazy amount of money or has been seen in public recently with Josh Duggar.
The place Rafael Soriano needs to sign with is a new agent!!!
I vote: nobody signs him
Watching Soriano struggle to find a club that will take him almost makes up for all the saves I watched him blow last season as a Nats fan. Almost.
He should have never left NY……….Go back
Miller in the 7th
Betances in the 8th
Untuck in the 9th……..Game over