Right-hander Joakim Soria is one of the top names on the free-agent market for relievers and is aiming to be compensated accordingly in the form of a three-year deal in the $27MM range, according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark (Twitter link).
Soria, 32 next May, is considered by many to be the top relief arm on the market outside of Darren O’Day, who as of today is said to be seeking a four-year deal in the $28-36MM range himself. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the asking price for Soria has come out shortly after the same information on O’Day, though Stark does cite teams that are active on the relief market as the source of his intel.
A wide number of clubs have been linked to Soria in the early stages of the offseason, including the Tigers, Rangers, Red Sox, Twins and Royals, though SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted today that the Red Sox are out of the running in the wake of their Craig Kimbrel acquisition. He adds that Soria is open to closing or setting up — a sentiment also heard by ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link), who notes that Soria will still seek a “closer-like contract” even if he accepts an eighth-inning role. The number reported by Stark would seem to reflect that thinking.
Soria just completed a solid season split as the Tigers’ closer and a setup man for Pirates’ closer Mark Melancon. Both Soria’s 2.53 ERA and 67 1/3 innings pitched represent the best marks he has posted since an All-Star season with the Royals back in 2010. Soria missed the 2012 campaign with Tommy John surgery and struggled a bit upon returning late in the 2013 season, but his overall body of work since returning from the procedure is strong. In 135 2/3 innings post-TJ, Soria has logged a 2.99 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 to go along with 42 saves.
Relievers are getting expensive this year, thanks Royals!
I’m sure someone will pay him and O’Day at the asking price they want. Teams out there like the Dodgers, Yankees, Tigers, etc. are willing to pay that much for a reliever of Soria’s capacity.
Good luck to him, but I can’t see teams lining up to pay that. If you’re going to give a non-closing reliever $9M/year over multiple years, you push hard for O’Day, not Soria. O’Day is much better than him, and it’s not particularly close, imo.
I’d rather have Soria thru age 35 than O’Day thru age 37. Better chance of getting value over the whole contract.
Based on what? O’Day has a much stronger and consistent track record and doesn’t have a TJ in his past. He’s a sidearmer who doesn’t rely on velocity, too. Four straight 60+ innings, Soria’s got one since 2011.
It would seem it is based solely on age.
I see. I guess I’d counter that they have similar numbers of innings pitched in their careers (MLB, minors, college, foreign). Soria’s got a few more ML innings.
I wouldn’t rather have Soria than O’Day, but I’m not sure the drop off is that far between them. I don’t expect Soria to reach his asking price entirely, but 3/24 seems possible IMO. Soria may actually end up with a higher AAV I think, but I expect O’Day can get 4 years
There’s no rule about relievers who are good at age 32 suddenly falling off at 37. In fact many get better as they age.
With the bullpen the Dodgers had, I can see them overspending to get both of o’day and soria, or at least one of them this year
Im not saying relievers arent important, but Id rather make a bunch of waiver claims and Minor league signings. Look at some rewards: Ryan Madson, Dalier Hinojosa, Jeanmar Gomez, Arquimedes Caminero, Edward Mujica, Xavier Cedeno, Brad Brach, Tommy Layne, Liam Hendriks, Jeff Manship, Will Harris just to mame a few. The bottom line is, why pay an annual $9,000,000 when relievers are so volatile.
I agree that relievers are very volatile, but O’Day is the kind of guy who deserves money -because- he’s consistently been improving.
RPs in general = not ones to put a lot of stock in
RPs who are consistent = rare birds
The reason these salaries are paid to certain relievers, is that those relievers have proven over time not to be volatile. Madson will be more than those others you have listed, because he has proven to be healthy, but he will be less than the top few by quite a bit.
Last 3 seasons by FIP:
Soria: 3.71, 2.09, 3.68
O’Day: 2.96, 3.32, 3.58
However, O’Day just had his career best K/9 rate and lowest HR/9 rate along with a lower BB/9 rate than his previous two years. So while Soria is decent, O’Day deserves a way bigger contract as he is trending downward in all numbers and has just been filthy for 4 years in a row now.
The difference is even starker when you consider that O’Day always outperforms FIP by quite a bit. He’s a sidearmer and gets odd contact.
Bunch of haters, let the guy have his money.
Where is anyone hating on him? I said I don’t think he’ll get it, but wished him good luck towards it. There are a lot of good stats in this thread. No one’s bashing Soria.
I’d love for the Tigers to add him at a roughly 3-year $24 MM deal to be the set-up man, since it looks like Soria will be open to that idea. If we hadn’t gotten K-Rod, I would’ve bet that the Tigers would’ve signed Soria to be their closer. But now, if we get Soria to be the set-up man, I think that makes the bullpen better. Having a (possibly revitalized) Bruce Rondon, Joakim Soria, and Francisco Rodriguez would be actually quite nice, I think. If not Soria, I could see the Tigers going after Tyler Clippard or Antonio Bastardo to be their set-up guy.
Same money as Miller has remaining? Good luck with that, Joakim.
That’s a lot of money for a setup man. I’d rather invest in a competent 4th starter for a few more bucks.