The New York Yankees have agreed to a three-year, $35 million deal with reliever Rafael Soriano, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com. Soriano will be an eighth-inning setup man for longtime closer Mariano Rivera. According to a baseball official, the idea is that if Rivera retires after his two-year deal expires, Soriano, 31, will be the heir apparent at closer. In fact, Rivera in some sense chose his own successor, going to bat for Soriano with Yankees brass to convince the team to sign him, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told ESPNNewYork.com's Wallace Matthews. Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney on Friday that there was a split of opinion in the Yankees organization over signing Soriano with ownership prevailing over baseball operations. Before signing Soriano, the Yankees had talked about a possible sign-and-trade that would have netted them Grant Balfour. If completed, the Yankees would have saved their No. 1 draft -- a stated priority of general manager Brian Cashman last week. The Yankees tabled the Balfour talks, instead, as they negotiated the Soriano deal. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6020119
Solid back end of the bullpen. Too bad they don't have the starting pitching to get them there, right?
