Monday, November 5, 2012
Fox Sports: Recession? Not in Scott Boras’ world
“If the Yankees didn’t sign Soriano, they wouldn’t have won the AL East,” Boras said flatly. “This is the value of depth. If the Yankees signed Soriano (after the 2010 season) when Rivera was 40 and healthy, why wouldn’t you sign Soriano when Rivera is 42 and coming off knee surgery?
“The issue for the Yankees is winning. The reason they signed Soriano two years ago is that they are about winning and depth. It proved true. When Mariano Rivera went down, Soriano became one of the top two or three closers in the game.
“When you know Mariano Rivera will be there for only one more year — at his age, coming off an injury — you can’t expect him to be what he was two years ago. There is a need there. You want to secure a great talent for future years. Soriano has proven he can be effective in New York. The team knows more about him. His value has gone higher.”
I get the sense Soriano’s in for a rude awakening on the offers he’s going to get. Then again, his value won’t be any higher than it is right now. My guess is he won’t get anything more than 3 yrs/$30M from someone. Obviously that’s an extra $17M he wouldn’t have had if he didn’t opt out, but at a much lower rate per season than he has gotten accustomed to.
I would be shocked if the Yankees even consider bringing back Soriano at this point, although with Randy Levine around who knows? I’m just hoping Soriano doesn’t accept the qualifying offer. While having him back for one year isn’t a bad thing, I’d rather have the draft pick and the $13.3M to spend on Russell Martin’s five year, $50M extension.
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