Yankees sign Rafael Soriano $35M/3yrs

The Rafael Soriano saga is finally over: he’s a Yankee. Jon Heyman reports the deal is worth $35 million over the next three years ($11.67M/yr). To compare, the Yankees signed Mariano Rivera for two years and $30 million this offseason.

This deal is a bit surprising because Brian Cashman had explicitly stated he would not “lose our No. 1 draft pick.” Honestly, it’s tough to think about that when the Yankees just took the Rays’ closer and made him their setup man.

Something to keep in mind: Soriano may have been the best closer in the game last year: 3-2, 1.73 ERA, 45 saves, and my favorite part, 0.80 WHIP. My goodness.

Here’s an interesting term to the contract via Heyman: Soriano can opt out after either the first year or the second. So just in case, there are a TON of closers that could be free agents next year.

Now the Yankees can go Pedro FelicIANO in the seventh, SorIANO in the eighth and MarIANO in the ninth. Love it. Don’t you?