MLB News: Rafael Soriano Joins Toronto Blue Jays On Minor League Deal

The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Sunday that the team has agreed to a minor league contract with 14-year veteran relief pitcher Rafael Soriano. The deal includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

He can earn $750,000 with the Blue Jays if he makes the team, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. At 36 years old, Soriano will look to re-establish himself after sitting out most of 2015 and struggling to pitch effectively when he was healthy.

.@BlueJays sign RHP Rafael Soriano to a Minor League contract with an invite to Major League #SpringTraining. pic.twitter.com/BvY0k5wpvP

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) February 28, 2016

Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press recently noted that Soriano was drawing interest from MLB teams after a dominating showing in the Dominican League.

After a brutal finish to the 2014 campaign –pitching to a 6.98 ERA after the All-Star break before being removed as closer, per ESPN — Soriano failed to latch on with a team in the offseason. He wound up taking a minor league deal with the Cubs in early June. However, when he was called up to the majors, Soriano struggled mightily, pitching to a 6.35 ERA in six games (five-and-two-third innings). He did manage to earn two victories over those six appearances.

His stint with the Cubs ended on September 1, 2015, as the team designated Soriano for assignment. On September 4, he was released, and he did not pitch again last season.

It has been a steep fall from grace for Soriano, as the Dominican-born right-hander was one of MLB’s top relievers for the better part of eight years. After myriad injuries slowed Soriano down, he emerged in 2006, pitching to a 2.25 ERA in 53 games out of the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen.

The following season, Soriano was traded to the Atlanta Braves after spending nearly a decade in the Mariners’ system. In Atlanta, Soriano experienced modest success, but in 2009, after Bob Wickman was designated for assignment, Soriano took over as the team’s closer. He finished that season with 27 saves and a 2.97 ERA in 52 games.

After the season, Soriano was on the move once again, this time to the Tampa Bay Rays. The trade allowed Soriano to become a full-time closer, and he did not disappoint. Soriano appeared in 64 games that year, pitching to a career-best 1.73 ERA and notching an American League leading 45 saves. His performance didn’t go unrecognized as he made his first — and only — All-Star team and won the AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year award.

Soriano picked to a good time to have the best season of his career. He was a free agent after the 2010 season and earned himself a three-year, $35 million contract with the New York Yankees. The only catch was that Mariano Rivera was still the Yankees’ closer, thus making Soriano the team’s set-up man.

In his first season in pinstripes, Soriano couldn’t replicate the success he enjoyed in Tampa Bay. Injuries limited Soriano to just 39-and-one-third innings and a 4.12 ERA, the highest of his career over the course of a full season. The next season, however, Soriano was arguably the Yankees’ MVP.

Rivera went down with a torn ACL, causing him to miss the rest of 2012. In Rivera’s absence, Soriano stepped up as the closer, notching 42 saves with a 2.26 ERA. He opted out of the final year of his original three-year deal, signing a two-year, $28 million deal with the Washington Nationals.

Soriano enjoyed a brilliant season-and-a-half with the Nationals, notching 75 saves before losing his job as closer in 2015.

The Blue Jays have Robert Osuna, Aaron Sanchez, and Drew Storen as viable 9th inning options in the bullpen. If Soriano does make the team, it will likely be in a middle relief capacity.

[Featured Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images]