Hot on the heels of the news that the Kansas City Royals
have lost catcher Salvador Perez for three months, the Royals and their ever
hopeful fans were battered by more bad news.
Stalwart closer Joakim Soria hurt his elbow and is apparently is heading
toward his second Tommy John surgery.
Soria is owed $6 million this year and the Royals hold an $8 million
option for 2013. It is almost certain
the Royals won’t take that option and we as fans must gird ourselves to the
possibility that Soria has thrown his last pitch as a Royal.
From 2007-2010, Joakim Soria was as good a closer as
baseball had to offer. He accumulated
132 saves in those four seasons against only 13 blown saves for some pretty
awful teams. He had 281 strikeouts to
only 70 walks, a 4:1 ratio. He was
dependable and terrific and fun to watch.
According to Jeff Zimmerman at royalsreview.com, Soria threw his
devastating curveball approximately 14% of the time in 2007-2009, but only 7%
of the time over the past two years. The
curve ball was his strikeout pitch and if he was unable to throw it, that would
explain much of his troubles last season.
Zimmerman postulates this very theme in his article. Early last season, Soria struggled mightily
through May, and it really was the first extended period of ineffectiveness we
had seen from him in his Royals career.
Even though he bounced back and regained some of his swagger, he never
really looked the same. He wasn’t
putting hitters away as easily has he had in the past. As fans, we speculated all season as to
whether or not something was wrong.
Soria, right up until after his appearance this last Sunday in Arizona,
claimed nothing was wrong with his arm.
It is hard to accept that but we have no other choice, do we?
Many people wanted the Royals to trade Soria before the 2011
season. I was never a proponent of this
tactic but I understood the argument.
People who counseled in favor of trade asked what good was it to have a
premium closer on a terrible team. My
thought was always that Soria was very popular with the fans and it is hard to
measure the value in that. People would
actually go to the ball park in hope of seeing that knee buckling curve. They would buy #48 jerseys; they would cheer
throatily. Plus, there was never any
guarantee that the Royals could get fair value in return. Yes, he was at the peak of his value that off
season but for me, I can’t look back now and blame the Royals for not moving
him.
So, where do the Royals go from here? If Kansas City
has one area of quality depth ready for big league action, it is the
bullpen. My best guess is that Greg
Holland will get the first shot at the closer’s role. Holland
was brilliant last season, maintaining 1.80 ERA and .9333 WHIP. He struck out over 11 per 9 innings and only
walked 19 in 60 innings. He was
confident and consistent all season. If Holland
would falter or struggle in April and May, the Royals have Jonathan Broxton,
who from 2006-2009 was one of the most dominating closer in the game. Injuries have derailed his career over the
past couple of seasons but Kansas City
took a chance he can regain his form. So
far this spring, he has pitch 3 innings with an ERA 3.00. The Royals are taking it slow with him,
allowing him some time to knock off some rust.
What is encouraging sign is that his velocity on his fastball is in the
mid 90’s and he feels fine up to this point.
Regardless of who sets up and who closes, Holland
and a healthy Broxton could be a dominating combo at the end of ball
games.
Soria’s injury could also open up a spot on the roster for
the diminutive but effective The 5’10”, 190 lb. (on a good day) Kelvin Herrera
has thrown 7 innings this spring with a 1.29 ERA and 10 strikeouts. Herrera could slide into that 7th
inning spot Ned Yost likes to use. If
not Herrera, I think Aaron Crow stays in the bullpen and gains an even more
important role than he had 2011.
The Royals can actually afford to take this hit to the
backend of their bullpen. There have
been many years when they could not.
Greg Holland or a healthy Jonathan Broxton will mostly likely be more effective
than an unhealthy Joakim Soria anyway.
As a fan of the Royals, and of Soria, I am sad to see Joakim go
down. On the financial side of things,
the Royals can plan ahead and use the $8 million they would have paid Soria in
2013 to sign Alex Gordon or Eric Hosmer.
Even if (when), the Royals opt out of that 2013 contract year, maybe
Soria can come back healthy next season and maybe he will resign with the
Royals at a discount. Who knows? I just know I am going to miss Soria in the
powder blue.
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