Rafael Soriano signs for 2006
DMZ · January 4, 2006 at 1:00 pm · Filed Under Mariners
There’s news! Yay! The M’s agreed to a one-year, $450k deal with Rafael Soriano.
We’re all huge Rafael Soriano fans here, and I have high hopes that he’ll decide to start this year and have a huge year that helps the M’s compete for the pennant. That would be sweet.
Also, as Dave points out in the comments below, Jae Seo’s been traded to the Dodgers in a nice little deal.
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Terrmel Sledge left sock,
Had for a price that is cheap,
Soriano starts.
Man, Ramon Santiago is now going to pick it up and throw it for Detroit again. And Lil Juan Gone is also back in the Tigers system. Did we get hosed in that deal or what?
We’re not paying Carlos Guillen $5 million to only play in a 100 games, play underwhelming defense, and post an empty .300 avg. That’s a not a bad deal. I’m happy with Betancourt now.
Betancourt could truly be the guy to make M’s fans forget about that Guillen give-away. But until now, yes, we got hosed Tommy, we got hosed.
I’m happy with Betancourt too, but certainly we could’ve gotten something slightly better for Guillen.
Indeed.
That’s why I feared the Yorvit give-away for the original PTBNL from the Rockies. But, it sounds as if Bavasi actually did well for once.
I don’t think Bavasi has been hosed in his trades. It’s his lack of imagination and crappy signings like Everett and Washburn that will doom him.
I don’t know that Bavasi would be here next year if he’d signed the top 2 FA’s(Giles+Millwood/Burnett) and traded half the farm away to get a good young SP. The M’s making the playoffs and drawing 3+million is probably the only way he’d be safe. Then again he hasn’t been fired yet, so we won’t know until it happens(or doesn’t)
Love to see Rafey Soriano start. Back when he got those 8, he was throwing mostly fastballs with an occasional slider mixed in; location needed some work, but he had velocity and good movement. Major leaguers sat on his pitches after a couple of innings so he gave up the HRs, but that was mostly the rookie pitching pattern. To me, Soriano becomes a closer _only_ if he’s still unable to mix pitches after most of a year starting. It may look ugly on occasion, but I think he’s worth the role if his arm is up to the workload.
And if it’s a Battle Royale among the remaining arms, remember the last ones standing will have to take out the FO at the end of it . . . that could be good.
Oh, so ERA’s a meaningful statistic, just so long as it . Seo’s previous ERAs, each from bigger samples, are 3.82 and 4.90. His career ERA is a not-exactly-stellar 3.85, and that’s in one of the better pitchers parks in the NL (Shea). Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good, cheap acquisition, but if you’re going to bang on about how Washburn’s coming off a year that’s out of line with, it’s completely disingenuous (i.e. actively dishonest) not to point out the same about Seo.
Career rates: 5.08 K/9IP, 2.00 K/BB.
The point wasn’t that Seo is great. The point was that, by any metric you want to use, Seo was clearly better than Washburn last year. Even with the Mariners 3.20 colored glasses, they should have been interested in Seo.
39: I’m not so sure about this: “His Velocity may not return but if that doesn’t affect his slider and he maintains good control with an 88MPH fastball he’ll still be good out of the pen.” I’m just not sure that Soriano can be effective as a Guardado type. I don’t really think he’ll need to try, mind you, but the results from the times that Soriano’s pitched with a 90MPH fastball are kinda terrifying. I’d just like to see the M’s hold tight and wait until his velocity returns before throwing him out there. That was the problem in 2004.
53: Even if you think Betancourt is the next Ozzie Smith, and even if you think Carlos Guillen is the worst player the M’s have ever seen fit to suit up, you’ve got to admit the trade itself was a crappy one. Maybe it’s good that he’s no longer here, but then why not have him play out his contract? As we’ve seen, there’s a market for basically everyone – if Bavasi can get good, interesting stuff for Yorvit Torrealba, why couldn’t he have picked up something – ANYTHING – we wouldn’t mind spending a 40 man roster spot on? Given what Guillen did in Detroit (which admittedly no one really expected), it’s among the most lopsided deals of the past 20 years.
59: I still remember watching Soriano match Rich Harden pitch for pitch in some epic AAA battles. He could start, or could have if these injuries hadn’t got in the way. At this point, I think the M’s would probably be wise to use him out of the bullpen for a year or so until they’re 100% sure that his elbow is healthy. Kind of like what they’ve done with Nageotte (back, elbow, whatever)…