Robert Mayer USA TODAY Sports
Despite totaling 117 saves over the last three seasons, and with more than 40 saves in three of the last five seasons, Rafael Soriano remains available as the the end of April nears. Advancing age (35) and a bad finish to 2014 with the Washington Nationals (6.48 ERA and five blown saves after the All-Star break) are the easiest reasons that Soriano has not found a new team, but I have to assume his asking price has also limited the market for his services to this point.
Multiple teams have been mentioned as potential suitors for Soriano, with rumors ramping up a bit lately, and teams that have some realistic chance to be a contender make up most of that group. The one significant outlier among the teams that have been reported to have interest in the veteran reliever is the Minnesota Twins, and according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN and KSTP they remain interested.
Soriano could surely help a bullpen that is simply not very good outside of closer Glen Perkins, but I assume he wants to pitch for a contender and the Twins aren’t there yet. And that is leaving aside the lingering issue that Soriano is available nearly a month into the season, with no known injury to help explain why.
The Twins signed a veteran that was available into last season, which should serve as a cautionary tale. Kendrys Morales had rejected a qualifying offer from the Seattle Mariners in November of 2013, and he was signed in early June once draft pick compensation was no longer tied to him. In theory Morales would have hit well enough during his time with the Twins to draw trade interest from contending teams, but it was not to be as he hit .234 with one home run and 18 RBI over 39 games (154 at-bats) before being traded back to Seattle near the trade deadline in July.
Besides the fact he is a pitcher while Morales is essentially a designated hitter, Soriano’s situation is not quite the same as Morales’. He became a free agent when the Nationals declined his $14 million option for this season, but Twins’ general manager Terry Ryan should not invite even a faint comparison to last year’s signing of Morales by leading any push to sign Soriano now.
Adding Soriano has minimal upside for the Twins, if any at all, with the downside of his trade value being virtually nil in three months if things go awry. Add in having to deal with agent Scott Boras in a contract negotiation, and a 35-year old pitcher that won’t impact the long-term future is a headache the Twins can avoid.
Brad Berreman is a Columnist/Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
