Here is what I wrote in my “Where Do The Yankees Go From Here?” post back in early December:
“What I can see the Yankees doing if they don’t bring back Pettitte or even if they do, is build a super bullpen. The best way to compensate for a weak (by Yankee standards) rotation, is to have a strong bullpen.
What would prevent the Yankees from signing Rafael Soriano and re-signing Kerry Wood? Soriano can’t find a home right now, so why not pair him up with Mariano Rivera? A Wood-Soriano-Rivera trifecta at the end of the game would be lethal.”
Almost one month to the day that I wrote that post, the Yankees have gone out and created a super bullpen. They didn’t re-sign Wood, but they will have two-thirds of my suggestion in 2011.
According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees have signed Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million contract. In the terms of the contract, Soriano can opt out after the first year and the second year as well.
This is a deal that works out well for both sides.
For the Yankees, they get the best reliever on the market to pair with Rivera to give them the best one-two late-inning punch in baseball.
The Yankees’ bullpen will also feature the newly acquired Pedro Feliciano and mainstays Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Boone Logan.
Soriano had a monster year in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a 1.73 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 8.2 K’s in 62.1 IP. He was pretty much automatic in the ninth for the Rays.
The Yankees are hoping Soriano sticks around for the next two years, becomes Rivera’s little sidekick, and then takes over for him in 2013. That role was supposed to go to Chamberlain, but that ship has sailed.
Did the Yankees overpay for Soriano? Of course they did. But the Yankees overpay for everyone, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
For Soriano, this was a no-brainer move on his part. He gets the big contract he wanted, but also gets to opt out if he wants to try to earn another payday.
He probably won’t get as much money on a per-year basis next year on the open market, but he could get another year out of a deal.
My early prediction on this move is that Soriano will opt out after the 2011 season, won’t find anyone who will pay him the money and the years he is seeking, and will end up coming back to the Yankees under his current deal.
As a side note to this deal, the Yankees will have to surrender their 2011 first-round pick to the Rays. That will be the 31st pick in the draft.
The last 31st pick to be just as productive as Soriano? Some guy named Greg Maddux, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs with the 31st pick in the 1984 Draft (tip o’ the hat to Kevin Goldstein for that tidbit).
The Rays now have three picks in the first round and nine picks before the second round starts. Their scouting department had better get to work.
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