Joakim Soria D-backs Deal | MLB.com (bit.ly)

The D-backs have reached a deal with veteran reliever Joakim Soria, a source told MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi on Wednesday. The one-year deal is worth $3.5 million with $500,000 in incentives, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the agreement.
Soria, 36, could be a strong

The D-backs have reached a deal with veteran reliever Joakim Soria, a source told MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi on Wednesday. The one-year deal is worth $3.5 million with $500,000 in incentives, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the agreement.

Soria, 36, could be a strong veteran candidate for the D-backs’ closer role. He has earned 223 saves in his 13-year career, including two last year in the second of his two seasons with the A’s. The right-hander, a two-time All-Star, has a 3.01 ERA across 725 2/3 career innings.

While Soria’s All-Star Game nods came in his earlier days with the Royals, he proved in 2020 that he can still be a valuable back-end contributor. The Mexico native finished the abbreviated campaign with a 2.82 ERA in 22 appearances, allowing just one homer across 96 batters faced for Oakland’s

. Soria also stood out when it came to advanced metrics; he finished among baseball’s top 10% of qualified pitchers in Statcast’s barrel rate against, expected weighted on-base (xwOBA) and expected ERA metrics.

The D-backs had been seeking relief help, having dealt closer Archie Bradley to the Reds and Andrew Chafin to the Cubs just before last year’s Trade Deadline. Arizona also did not pick up the contract options on Hector Rondón and Junior Guerra.