Rafael Soriano Signs 3-Year Deal with the New York Yankees

January 16, 2011  

On Friday the New York Yankees made their first bold move of the off-season, signing right-handed relief pitcher Rafael Soriano away from the Tampa Bay Rays for a reported 3-year deal for $35 million dollars. Also, it has been reported that Soriano can opt out of the contract after both year one and year two. Soriano was a Type A Free Agent, meaning the Yankees will send their 2011 1st round draft pick to Tampa as compensation. 

Soriano is one of the best right-handed relief pitchers in all of baseball, though his past injury history tends to keep him underrated with the baseball public. But make no mistake, when he is healthy, he is easily a top 10 reliever in all of baseball. His numbers bear this out: 

Career: 342 Appearances, 395 IP, 88 Saves, 2.73 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 422 Ks 

2010: 64 Appearances, 62.1 IP, 45 Saves, 1.73 ERA, 0.802 WHIP, 57 Ks 

2009: 77 Appearances, 75.2 IP, 27 Saves, 2.97 ERA, 1.057 WHIP, 102 Ks 

2008:(Injured)  14 Appearances, 14 IP, 3 Saves, 2.57 ERA, 1.143 WHIP, 16 Ks 

Soriano will slide into the 8th inning, stopper role and act as the closer when Mariano Rivera needs a day off. These two should provide the best 1-2 bullpen tandem in baseball and one of the better combinations in recent memory. This signing reminds me of the mid-90s Yankees when their bullpen had a young Mariano Rivera setting up for John Wetteland. Those two were so dominant that if the Yankees were leading after 7 innings, the opposition doubted their ability to come back. I think these two could potentially be that dominant at the back end of the bullpen. This signing allows Pedro Feliciano to slide into his more comfortable role of middle relief who is extremely difficult on lefties and allows the combination of Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson to focus on the 6th and 7th innings and getting the ball to Soriano and Rivera with the lead. 

Though signing Soriano improves the bullpen immensely and should provide a solid boost to the team overall, the contract seems excessive. As has been proven out time and again in free agency, signing relief pitchers to 3-year contracts rarely works out for the ball club. And to give a non-closer almost $12 million per season is borderline crazy, even for the Yankees. Plus to allow him the opportunity to opt out after each season, while unlikely at these dollars, gives the player a tremendous amount of unnecessary leverage. I figured he would receive a closing job from some team this off-season, and a contract of 3 years and $25 million dollars, so this contract is a healthy raise from that guesstimate. Also, I don’t think it should be overlooked that the Yankees will lose their first round draft choice as part of this transaction as well: this draft is incredibly stacked and the opportunity to secure one of the best 30 players will hurt the farm system and potentially hinder a trade in 2012 or 2013. 

Overall, I think this signing makes the Yankees 2-3 games better in 2011 and probably half a game to three-quarters of a game better in the postseason. The bottom line is Soriano greatly improves the Yankees and the team has the financial resources to spend excessively compared to other teams. If a mid to small market team had made this signing, I would be slamming this deal for the length and dollars involved, but the Yankees had a need in the bullpen and signed the best reliever available this winter. The loss of the draft pick also hurts the team long term, but Soriano makes them a better team and the contract will not affect the Yankees from making additional moves down the line. Therefore, I would sign off on this deal as a good but not great move. 

 

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Overall Grade: B to B- 

Adam LaRoche Signs with the Washington Nationals

 

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January 12, 2011
 
Last week the Nationals signed Adam LaRoche to fill their vacancy at first base after Adam Dunn signed with the Chicago White Sox several weeks back. LaRoche received a two-year deal with an option for a 3rd season: the breakdown of the contract is he will make $15 million in the first two years, $7 million in 2011 and $8 million in 2012. He and the Nationals have a mutual option for $10 million in 2013. The Nationals could, and most likely will, buy him out for $1 million instead after 2012. LaRoche is guaranteed to make $16 million in 2011 and 2012 ($15 million salary plus $1 million buyout), with the chance he receives $25 million in 2011-2013.
 
LaRoche is a very consistent major league average first baseman. This left handed batter will hit somewhere between .260-.275 with 20-25 Home Runs, and 80-100 RBI per season. He is also a solid to above average defensive player and from most accounts, a great teammate. LaRoche is also a streaky hitter with the tendency to hit much better in the second half of the season: 252/.327/.449 before the all-star break and .295/.354/.535 after the break. For his seven year career, he has a .271/.339/.488, which makes him a solid major leaguer. But at first base, unfortunately he is also the type of player a team is always looking to upgrade from, which explains why he is now on his fifth major league team. His left handed bat will likely slot 5th in the Nationals lineup this season, complimenting the right handed bats of Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth and Adam should produce comparable numbers to what Josh Willingham has done in the same spot the past two seasons.
 
What is puzzling and controversial about this acquisition is not the player, who is likely a solid fit, it is the contract, specifically the guaranteed two years with the chance of a third season, and to a lesser extent, the amount per season. With most of the other teams settled at first base, it seems as though the Nationals were bidding against themselves by giving the player a second year. His peers in this years free agent class Carlos Pena (1 year for $10 million from the Cubs), Derrek Lee (1 year for $7.25 million from Baltimore), Lance Berkman (1 year for $8 million) , and Brad Hawpe (1 year for $3 million), amongst others, were already off the market and should have given the Nationals the parameters of a deal with LaRoche. While they did not have particularly good options if LaRoche found another suitor (Russell Branyan and Casey Kotchman come to mind), I think LaRoche would have ultimately found the Nationals were his best, if not only option. In general, I think the Nationals made an unwise decision to give in and agree to a 2nd guaranteed season and such a high annual dollar amount. A contract more similar to Derrek Lee with the Orioles would have been appropriate.
 
While I am a big Adam LaRoche fan because of his consistency and defense, the Nationals signed him for too many years and for too many dollars with this contract. I know the organization had a huge hole at 1B after Dunn’s departure (and without someone ready to step in at AAA) but I cannot think of another team that needed a first baseman and certainly not one willing to give him two guaranteed years at $7.5 million per season with a $10 million dollar 3rd year option. The bottom line is the team overbid for a mediocre to solid player, which is always a bad recipe for success. Good player, bad contract. 
 

 

Overall Grade: C-