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Shoring up a trouble spot in the back end of their bullpen, the Tampa Bay Rays have traded reliever Jesse Chavez to the Atlanta Braves for reliever Rafael Soriano. The deal, which was supposed to finalized on Thursday, didn't become official until Friday afternoon as one of the doctors that was needed to sign off was in surgery on Thursday.The Rays were looking at the possibility of handing ninth inning duties to either Dan Wheeler or J.P. Howell next season. Howell blew eight of his 25 save opportunities for the Rays in 2009, and Wheeler only converted two of his six attempts. Soriano brings a whopping 87% success rate -- compared to Wheeler and Howell's combined 61% success rate -- in converting saves, closing 27 of the 31 games he was given a chance to save in Atlanta .
In addition to providing a statistically more reliable option for the ninth inning, Soriano did his new team a favor earlier this week when he agreed to accept arbitration from the Braves. Tampa Bay won't be required to relinquish a first-round draft pick in this situation because they aren't signing a Type-A free agent, they are trading for an arbitration-eligible pitcher. They would have had to give up that pick if Soriano had not agreed to arbitration and signed with the Rays on the open market.
On Thursday, The Rays signed Soriano to a one-year deal worth $7.25 million and according to a major-league source, Soriano's no-trade policy will remain in tact through June 15.
Placing the statistical upgrade and the fact that the Rays get to keep their first round draft pick aside, remember that Soriano doesn't arrive in sunny Florida without baggage. He is going to cost the Rays more money then they would have liked to spend on a back-end option for their bullpen. He's also somewhat of an injury risk, having missed the majority of three of the last six seasons to elbow problems while never in his career throwing more innings than he did last season.
In Chavez, the Braves get a 26-year-old workhorse who appeared in 73 games last season for the Pirates and Rays. He'll slot into the middle of the Braves bullpen and, if all works out for Atlanta, continue to provide tons of relief innings for the pitching staff.
Most important to the Braves is Chavez is a very low-paid pitcher. The salary that Atlanta dumped when they traded Soriano will be put to use as the team tries to fill other holes in their lineup -- like a power hitting outfielder or first baseman.
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