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Soria and Sanchez on Yanks Radar?


By Mike Silva ~ June 29th, 2011. Filed under: Mike Silva, Rumor Mill.

A member of the Kansas City media reached out to me yesterday, asking if we had heard anything about the Yankees making another run at Royals closer Joakim Soria.

Last summer, we reported Yankees interest in Soria, but the demands of Kansas City GM Dayton Moore were excessive. Bill Madden later reported the Yankees made overtures this past offseason, but the Royals asked for Jesus Montero and Eduardo Nunez. Our very own Frank Russo reported to me that his information indicates that nothing has changed with respect to the cost of Soria and he believes a deal, right now, is unlikely.

Soria has struggled this year, even losing his closer job, but has rebounded in June to toss 12 scoreless innings and save six games. If the reports from January are true, I can’t believe Moore wouldn’t have jumped at a Montero/Nunez offer for Soria. He won’t get that now. That would have been a steal for the Royals.

In case you are wondering, Soria has three team options ($6 million, $8 million, $8.7 million) the next three years that can be bought out for 750k. This probably means that Moore will hold out until a desperate team overpays for his services. I am all for trading Montero, who will likely never catch in the Bronx, but not for a closer.

As a matter of fact, Joel Sherman reported the main Yankees bullpen target is San Diego’s Mike Adams (1.24 ERA, 0.66 WHIP). Most believe Adams will take over the closer role once Heath Bell is dealt. Adams was briefly part of the Mets organization in 2006 when he was acquired for Geremi Gonzalez. The Mets put him on waivers two months later and lost him to Cleveland. Just another power arm that Omar Minaya gave away during that period.

As for starting pitching, Russo told me it appears another name on the Yankees radar is Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez. To date, Sanchez is having a career year (6-1, 2.82 ERA), but is an arbitration eligible player with a salary that has jumped to almost $4 million dollars. Not usually the type of player the Marlins keep.

Sanchez is not left handed (my preference for a starting pitching acquisition), but he is young and still controllable for the next couple of years. Sanchez threw a no hitter against the Diamondbacks in 2006, and nearly tossed another one against Colorado in April. He is the kind of swing and miss National League pitcher that can translate to the American League.

Acquiring Sanchez would likely require a package centered on Montero. He does have a history of shoulder issues, as he missed most of two seasons recovering from labrum surgery.

In the aforementioned column, Joel Sherman mentioned Sanchez, as well as the Cubs Matt Garza, as young pitchers that could be on the move at the deadline. Garza is 4-6 with a 4.07 ERA for the Cubs. He, like Sanchez, is controllable since he is arbitration eligible.

With his American League East experience, Garza might be a better fit. There is also the added bonus that he doesn’t have the injury history of Sanchez.

Frank Russo adds:

One thing to look out for is where Heath Bell winds up at the deadline. Would it surprise you if Jed Hoyer “gift wraps” Bell to the Red Sox, just as he did Adrian Gonzalez?

Makes me wonder if one of Hoyer’s stipulations for taking the San Diego job was to be a pseudo- farm team for Theo Epstein and the Sox.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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13 Responses to Soria and Sanchez on Yanks Radar?

  1. curMetgeon
    June 29th, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    Many teams in MLB have been “psuedo-farm teams” for the Yankees for years now. Turnabout is fair play.

  2. NYY
    June 29th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Example? Specifically in recent years? The Diamondbacks didn’t exactly hold the Red Sox feet to the fire, gift-wrapping Schilling for Fossum & Lyon (translation=nothing), after asking for Soriano & Nick Johnson from the Yankees…

  3. Stu B
    June 29th, 2011 at 2:48 pm

    The alltime biggest example was the Kansas City A’s dealing Maris to the Yankees for Bauer, Larsen, Siebern, and Marvelous Marv Throneberry. More recently, the Oakland A’s gave up Scott Brosius for Kenny Rogers and his bloated contract, and the Rangers trading A-Rod for Alfonso Soriano. Yankees fans have nothing to b*tch about.

  4. Samuel
    June 29th, 2011 at 2:55 pm

    With Papelbon, Bard, Aceves and Matt Albers all pitching well, what do the Red Sox need with Heath Bell?

    Plus Bobby Jenks and Franklin Morales just came off the DL.

    And who do the Red Sox have left to trade for a guy the caliber of Bell?

    Let’s get serious here, Frank. Jed Hoyer making the Padres a Red Sox farm team? When have you ever been right about anything?

  5. Samuel
    June 29th, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    And always stay away from guys with shoulder issues, past or present!

    So a big fat NO on Anibel Sanchez.

    CC, AJ, Garcia, Nova, Colon and Hughes coming back.

    Where the hell would Sanchez pitch anyway?

  6. NYY
    June 29th, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    I’ll admit that I’m not familiar enough with the 50′s/60′s Yankees/Royals to evaluate that trade, but Hank Bauer and Don Larsen aren’t exactly no-names… Was Maris known to be a big time player at that time? Didn’t he really only come into his own as a Yankee, mainly from 60-62? Bauer was at the end of his career for sure, but Larsen was only 30 in his first year with the Royals.

    Regarding Brosius for Rogers, Kenny Rogers was a former ace who just couldn’t cut it in New York, and in his first year with the A’s, he went 16-8 with a 3.17 ERA, who really could have forseen the great year Brosius had in 1998 for the Yankees? No one at the time, that’s for certain. His bat was never the same after that, but his glove was always clutch. However, let’s not act as if Scott Brosius was Wade Boggs in his prime here.

    A-Rod for Soriano, at the time, I believe there were some who thought it wasn’t a good trade for the Yankees, after all, A-Rod still had the stigma of “unclutch” and the huge contract, and at the time, Soriano was an up-and-coming star, the fact that he was 2 years older than we thought (and the same age as A-Rod) didn’t come out until later. Remember what Soriano did from 01-03 with the Yankees: he hit what should have been the game winning HR in Game 7 of the World Series (not to mention game winning RBI in Game 5, and a game-winning HR in the ALCS vs. Seatlte). In 02-03, he came close to 40-40 both years, and if it wasn’t for his swinging and every slider in the dirt in the 03 World Series, there really wasn’t much negative to say about Soriano’s time with the Yankees.

    One other point on the A-Rod/Soriano trade: remember, the Rangers had a choice on the second player in the deal… Alex Arias or Robinson Cano. Needless to say, the Rangers made the wrong choice. Not the Yankees fault. A-Rod for Soriano+Cano starts to look a little different… Yankees got lucky on that one, no doubt, however, that trade was fair, the Rangers just made the wrong choice.

    The Yankees have never (at least in recent years) had the kind of gift trades that have brought Schilling and Gonzalez to the Red Sox.

  7. ecp
    June 29th, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    The Padres have already said they will not trade Mike Adams. Cheap and under team control for at least a couple more years. Sure, anybody’s fair game, but that means that they will demand the moon for him.

  8. Chuck Johnson
    June 29th, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2010/05/10/nova-called-up-from-scrantonwb/

    http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37082477/sports/player_news

    Does anyone else find it interesting the Yankees have buried at least TWO instances of Jesus Montero being benched for not running out ground balls?

  9. Mike Silva
    June 29th, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    Chuck

    That is a great point – I doubt he will ever play for the Yankees as he is gone come July 31st

    They prob don’t want to make a big deal and hurt his value to other teams

  10. Mike Silva
    June 29th, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    Samuel

    I think the links in the article prove that Frank has a pulse on what is going on

    The rumor business is a game where you are never going to be 100% right

  11. NYY
    June 29th, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/752728-once-disrespected-robinson-cano-is-the-greatest-second-baseman-in-yankee-history

    “Yes, a team’s scouting system is important.”

  12. Russ Cress
    June 29th, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    Before getting to Bell a couple of things on the comments.

    The Yankees/ KC A’s comparison is a good comparison to the Red Sox/Padres situation in the Gonzalez deal. The owner of the KC A’s was a former Yankees minority partner named Arnold Johnson who was still tight with Webb & Topping and he was comfortable dealing with them as he thought “name” players from the Yankees would help draw in KC, hence his willingness to acquire over the hill guys like Woodling, Bauer & Larsen. That said, Roger Maris in the winter of 1959-60 was NOWHERE near the player that Adrian Gonzalez is now. So while the relationship is comparable, the players cited are not.

    I can’t believe Stu brought up the Brosius/Rogers trade. We are talking about the same Scott Brosius who hit .198 the year before the Yankees got him. They were ripped big time for that trade at the time and no one saw Brosius’ 1998 revival coming. That was a bad contract/scrap heap deal of the highest variety. In fact, it compares more to the Swisher trade than anything else.

    The talk around the A-Rod deal always bugs me. For some reason, no one remembers what a stud Alfonso Soriano was seen as being at the time of the trade. The guy was a young, clutch player who was seen as a future 40-40 guy who would be a long time All-Star. No matter what Texas was paying A-Rod (and they paid 1/3 of his contract after the trade) there is no way the Yankees could have gotten him if not for how good Soriano was at the time. They gave up a young All-Star and I wonder how people would view that trade today if Texas would have picked Cano from that list.

    As for Bell, there is no way I see him going to Boston. The guy is tailor made for St. Louis. It makes a ton of sense for them, he’s an ideal fit there. He’s also a better fit for Tampa Bay than Boston right now.

    Meanwhile…..Sergio Mitre is back!

    Joe Girardi’s love affair with Mitre is baseball’s version of the kind of thing that great cheesy chick flicks are made of. I always joked that Mitre keeps his job because he’s the guy who knows how to make Girardi’s coffee like no one else can. He has to have some kind of special skill like that.

    Well, that and Brian Cashman’s dream of making the Guiness Book of World’s Records for the most times bringing pitchers back to the same team for 2nd go-rounds. By my count, Mitre is #16.

    Time for another round of Yankee Stadium’s favorite game….”Uh, Oh Sergio”.

  13. Juke Early
    June 30th, 2011 at 2:53 am

    I was a baseball savvy kid at th etime of the Maris from KC trade. And I wasn’t happy. Well, until Roger started playing. . ..;-)

    BUT when will the NYY or is that, Cashman – learn unless you’re getting Lincecum, NL pitchers can’t hack that extra bat in the lineup. Gee, Mitre. Again. What a deal.

    BTW in recent podcasts Mike & Phil Pepe both misused words. You meant “antagonist” Mr. Pepe – the protagonist in the heroic/lead character in a work. Mike – “mea culpa?” when referring to a potential Reyes trade – you no doubt mean “fait accompli” – the French equivalent of done deal. Mea culpa = my bad in Latin.

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