Nationals sign Rafael Soriano

[Goober]

I'm going to assume this is part of a plan to make Storen/Clippard and Morse available in a trade for a good lefty and a prospect.

But last year, the 8th and 9th innings were trouble. Storen was injured and the Clippard lost his mojo. Frankly, I think Clippard is overrated and gets very lucky. It's good to have another guy that can close. It's good to have depth and the ability to make it a six inning game against one of, if not the, best rotations in baseball.

And Rizzo does things out of the blue. There were no rumblings of the Span trade. Nor the Gio trade. He has quickly built and developed a farm system that enabled him to pull off those trades. He's made some good trades (Langerhans for Morse) and some stupid ones (Willingham for Brown and HRod). But the majority of his moves have been solid. Tyler Clippard, Christian Garcia, Danny Espinosa, ect, ect. I'm pretty sure this is not the end of it. There will be another deal. Morse won't be on the team for much longer and the bullpen is now a position of depth, and they still have to figure out what to do with HRod.

The bullpen is a position of depth after signing one reliever? What happens when Soriano gets hurt? What happens if Soriano isn't effective?

[Warner2BruceTD]

That's the point, spending "top dollar" on any reliever is a poor allocation of funds.

true

If I were the GM of a serious World Series contender, I would send seven league minimum shit bums out to the pen.

Then when the team fails to hold a lead, ever, I could just explain to the fans that while we may have missed the playoffs, we had the best allocation of funds in all of baseball!

[Warner2BruceTD]

The Nats gave Werth a gazillion dollars, do you think they give a fuck about careful allocation of funds?

They are trying to win a World Series, and collecting the best players they can. Im not sure it matters to them at this point how much they're paying Soriano, provided he fixes the 9th. Personally I thought there were better options this offseason, but if I were a Nats fan I wouldn't be bridge jumping because of this.

[Slateman]

The bullpen is a position of depth after signing one reliever? What happens when Soriano gets hurt? What happens if Soriano isn't effective?

Plus a healthy Storen and Christian Garcia available for a whole season. Bullpen is definitely strong, with three pitchers capable of closing.

I'm predicting now that there will be a package of Morse and either Storen or Clippard for a lefty and a prospect.

[Glenbino]

I don't care what the contract is this season.. The loss of the pick and pool money is a much bigger deal IMO. Teams can't overspend in the later rounds to lure kids out of high school with demands over slot anymore like they used to to make up for the talent they missed out on early in the draft because of FA signings.

For the record Mike Trout went with the 25th pick in the draft.. Late first round picks aren't always that useless

[MVPete]

Morse for Jake McGee would be my first guess.

[Guest]

Morse is a highly regarded player this off-season, and I think that the Nationals would be able to keep Clippard and Storen. I also read an article from the Post that they aren't concerned with adding a lefty at this point, as their relievers face left-handers well enough as it is. Also, with Davey Johnson managing the bench, he's not as big as lefty vs lefty matchups.

I really do think this was to add a closer, and if it was, bad move. Closers aren't worth big money right now, and not worth the pick, even if it will be low. Does adding Soriano to close games, when they already had some decent options to begin with, put the team over the top when you consider everything? I don't think so.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Rizzo got lucky with being able to draft Harper and Strasburg. Rizzo was gifted with a great foundation from Stan Kasten though, and that's even bigger than those two cornerstone players. He makes some questionable moves, but he's been able to keep things moving forward.

[PG24]

The Nationals have certainly made a stacked team. Soriano is coming off a disappointing end to last season, so it'll be interesting to see how a new location works for him. If he plays up to his potential, then that bullpen just got much tougher. Did they overpay? Yes. That being said, he's still a solid player at a place of need for them, which makes the deal solid.

[NAHSTE]

true

If I were the GM of a serious World Series contender, I would send seven league minimum shit bums out to the pen.

Then when the team fails to hold a lead, ever, I could just explain to the fans that while we may have missed the playoffs, we had the best allocation of funds in all of baseball!

The Braves and Rays have had some of the best bullpens in the league over the past few years and routinely trot out players earning the league minimum, or in Tampa's case, post-hype reclamation projects. The Braves' entire pen accounts for less than half of Soriano's yearly salary, and it's still better than the Nats' pen even after this signing. You can easily construct a good bullpen on the cheap.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The Braves and Rays have had some of the best bullpens in the league over the past few years and routinely trot out players earning the league minimum, or in Tampa's case, post-hype reclamation projects. The Braves' entire pen accounts for less than half of Soriano's yearly salary, and it's still better than the Nats' pen even after this signing. You can easily construct a good bullpen on the cheap.

Easily is not a word I would use, but I agree with the general point.

But its like I said in the chatbox, what works for one team does not always directly translate to another. Lets look at Tampa.

Everybody praises them for their fiscal responsibility, but make no mistake, the only reason they behave this way ids because they have to. If Tampa had the funds, they would spend on things like the bullpen instead of rolling the dice on reclamation projects every year. But they dont, so the smart way to do things in their case is to spend very little on the bullpen.

Washington is not in that boat. Nats, Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, teams like this dont have to scap together bullpens with minor leaguers & flame outs because they have enough money to "overpay" set up men. Overpaying a set up man saved the Yankees season last year when it was clear Robertson couldnt handle the 9th. If im a fan of a team like that, you better believe I expect them to spend money to fill the hole rather than roll with a spring training invitee. Why? Because they can.

Tampa spending $14M on a RP would be foolish. Washington? A team ready to win with money to burn, who had bullpen struggles last year? On January 15th, when Soriano can help them far more than $14M rotting on the bank? Why not. These situations are not created equally.

I dont love the move, but the team is better and they wont miss the money. The rest of the team is set. They used available funds to fill a need. Isnt that what its about?

[Warner2BruceTD]

Speaking of Tampa and Atlanta, here is what it cost each of them to acquire Rafael Soriano in trades:

- Horacio Ramirez
- Jorge Sosa

So again, why spend money on relievers? You can get these guys off the scrap heap, then when they perform well just let the dumb teams pay them.

Again, not every team is built equally or playing from the same deck of cards.

It works for Atlanta, fantastic. It's not Rizzo's job to worry about how Atlanta constructs its bullpen, it's Rizzo's job to construct the best bullpen possible for the Nats. Rizzo doesn't care if he is paying one RP double what the entire Atlanta bullpen makes, nor should he. It's his job to improve his bullpen, and Venters & Kimbrel aren't walking in that door. So he spent some money.

Why spend money on relievers? You shouldn't if you are working with a TB budget. In that case, it's the last thing you should invest your limited funds on. They've been smart in that regard.

But if you have the money to do it, a better question is why not? I would say the Yankees certainly got quite the return on their $11M investment in a setup man last season. It's the Yankees, they have that luxury, and it paid off. Sure, the Yankees or Nats can go the Tampa route, but why? They don't have to roll the dice like that and hope some bum turns it around the cheap.

It's not like Washington gave Soriano this deal at the expense of filling a different hole. This is a late signing that was done after the rest of the team is already set.

You can make a good argument that they would have been better off signing one of the cheaper closers earlier in free agency, or taking a chance on Brian Wilson, because none of those options would have cost them a pick. $14M rotting away in the bank isn't going to put this team over the top, but Soriano might. Again, this isn't a battle of who can be the most efficient, it's a battle of constructing the best roster possible. If Soriano is even close to what he's been six of the last seven seasons, it's a good move. If he flops, the biggest mishap here is the lost pick, not the money.

[NAHSTE]

Again, not every team is built equally or playing from the same deck of cards.

It works for Atlanta, fantastic. It's not Rizzo's job to worry about how Atlanta constructs its bullpen, it's Rizzo's job to construct the best bullpen possible for the Nats. Rizzo doesn't care if he is paying one RP double what the entire Atlanta bullpen makes, nor should he. It's his job to improve his bullpen, and Venters & Kimbrel aren't walking in that door. So he spent some money.

Why spend money on relievers? You shouldn't if you are working with a TB budget. In that case, it's the last thing you should invest your limited funds on.

But if you have the money to do it, a better question is why not? I would say the Yankees certainly got quite the return on their $11M investment in a setup man last season. It's the Yankees, they have that luxury, and it paid off. Sure, the Yankees or Nats can go the Tampa route, but why? They don't have to roll the dice like that and hope some bum turns it around the cheap.

It's not like Washington gave Soriano this deal at the expense of filling a different hole. This is a late signing that was done after the rest of the team is already set.

You can make a good argument that they would have been better off signing one of the cheaper closers earlier in free agency, or taking a chance on Brian Wilson, because none of those options would have cost them a pick. $14M rotting away in the bank isn't going to put this team over the top, but Soriano might. Again, this isn't a battle of who can be the most efficient, it's a battle of constructing the best roster possible. If Soriano is even close to what he's been six of the last seven seasons, it's a good move. If he flops, the biggest mishap here is the lost pick, not the money.

Yeah, I deleted my post because I realized while typing it that I didn't care that much. I didn't even mean to post. I thought I x'd out. It makes sense in this case for the Nats, you're right, but in general the overall idea of spending money on Papelbon, Heath Bell, Rafael Soriano, etc. is foolish when you can find younger relievers on the cheap who are just as good. You can spend that money in other places.

[Villain]

That's the point, spending "top dollar" on any reliever is a poor allocation of funds.

14 million is a ton of money to give to a reliever, but I disagree in that I don't think it is as black and white as you're making it out to be. Mariano Rivera has deserved all the cash the Yankees have given him - it bit them in the ass exactly once. Luckily for them they had another high paid reliever who capably filled that hole.