The need for a good reliever or maybe even closer for the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals might lead them to Joakim Soria, who isn’t going to be staying in Pittsburgh or going back to the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers, who Soria played for in 2014 and most of 2015, have already traded for Francisco Rodriguez, filling out that need. The Royals are busy trying to re-sign Ben Zobrist and Alex Gordon (might have to settle for just one), but they have their eye open for the bullpen as well, which has been crucial in their two runs to the World Series over the last two years.
The Blue Jays, who lost to the Royals on their first postseason appearance in 22 years, are putting the acquisition of a back-end reliever on top of their priority list, which might give them an advantage in the chase after the 31-year old Mexican.
Soria has been in MLB since 2007, making the All-Star game twice with the Royals before playing in Texas, Detroit and a little bit of Pittsburgh after he was traded there for some minor league talent. He had 24 saves in all of last season for both the Tigers and the Pirates, 80% success rate. Overall in his career he has a 2.57 ERA in 444 relief appearances, averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Soria made $7 million last season, and is rumored to be looking for a multi-year deal that will pay him around $9 million a season.