First, the grisly details.
What’s To Be Done With Rafael Soriano?
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After blowing an eighth-inning lead Monday night, Rafael Soriano has
* a 7.84 ERA,
* issued 8 walks, and
* given up 9 runs.
These numbers would be notable for any well-paid, high-leverage relief pitcher.
They are particularly notable because during all of last season, in which Soriano pitched 62 innings, he
* posted a 1.73 ERA,
* issued 14 walks, and
* gave up 14 runs.
I mean, this is sort of epic.
There's already been a tendency to excoriate Yankees ownership for overruling Brian Cashman, who reportedly wasn't wild about investing $35 million in three seasons of Soriano's considerable talents. But the $35 million and Soriano's performance to this point are completely separate issues. Sure, they probably overpaid. But they're the Yankees. Once Cliff Lee was gone, it was either overpay for Soriano or send Hank Steinbrenner to an exclusive London tailor for a complete makeover. And only one of those things had any chance of actually making the Yankees a better team.
What to make of Soriano? If you believe the Baseball Info Solutions data, his fastball speed’s down some this season, but not alarmingly so. His slider has been ineffective, and obviously his control’s been a big problem.
Is there really something wrong with Soriano, though? We are literally talking about four lousy innings. Anybody can have four lousy innings.
If there's a problem here, it's that Joe Girardi seems unwilling to even consider the possibility that there's something wrong with Soriano. The guy's making $10 million this season, so by God Girardi's going to use Soriano like he's the Yankees' second-best relief pitcher, even while Joba Chamberlain and (particularly) Dave Robertson have pitched effectively.
Who has better numbers at the end of the season, though? My money’s still on Soriano, unless he’s hurt. And if he’s hurt now, nobody seems to know it.
If this keeps happening, Girardi won't have a choice, any more than Tony La Russa had a choice with Ryan Franklin or Don Mattingly will soon have a choice with Jonathan Broxton. You reach a point where the psychology of the thing demands a change.
Maybe Mattingly and his bosses got there Tuesday night. Two straight embarrassing performances -- including a neglected pop-up -- can have that effect. But one way or another, something’s gotta give.
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