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Padres Editorial: Should The Padres Target K-Rod Or Soriano?

By Jason Evans

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The way baseball is going, if you don’t have a deep bullpen, you don’t have a chance to win. The Padres already have one of the best in the game. The team added Shawn Kelley in a trade with the Yankees. Brandon Maurer from the Mariners may be added to it as well.

What about adding one of the two big names left on the market in Francisco Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano? 

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Both struggled down the stretch last season. Soriano lost his closing role with the Nationals. K-Rod gave up a ton of homers down the stretch.

Joaquin Benoit is the closer right now, however, he could excel as a setup man. A 7-8-9 combo of Kelley/Alex Torres/Benoit and either K-Rod or Soriano to finish the game could be a pretty useful combo.

Granted, I don’t know where the Padres are budget-wise. They may not have the room, nor the want to give K-Rod the two year deal he appears to be looking for.

K-Rod’s strikeout percentage has gone down to 27.2%, however, it’s higher than it was a few seasons ago. K-Rod had an increased ground ball rate, but an absurd 23.2% HR/FB ratio, though that rate has increased every year since 2011.

Soriano has seen an increase in his flyball rate to a 49.1% rate last season. His K/9 went up to 8.56, almost two strikeouts from the previous season. He did have his lowest WHIP since 2010, but his velocity is in a decline as he enters his age 35 season.

Would adding either one of them make a huge difference? According to Fangraphs projections, probably not. In fact, Soriano is supposed to have a negative WAR. Depending on price, and if either would be willing to set up for one year, I’d give it a shot. But at this point, I can’t see either joining the Friars.

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