Yankees sign Rafael Soriano

So the Yankees have finally found someone this offseason who was willing to take their money, and it came in the form of shut-down closer - ugh, I mean set-up man - Rafael Soriano. The Yankees have agreed to pay Soriano $35M for the next three years to be the set up man for Mariano Rivera for the next two at least. Soriano can also opt out of the contract after year 1 or year 2. Before getting into what this means in a baseball sense for the Yankess (and subsequently the AL East), can we all marvel in the greatness that is Scott Boras? I know he's a dick, but goddamn is he good at his job.

Somehow Boras managed to make Soriano the 5th highest paid reliever in baseball, in a market that had seemingly dried up, and to be a set-up man for fucks sake. Soriano's annual average salary ($11.67M) trails only Rivera, Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan and Francisco Rodriguez - all of whom are closers.

Another interesting twist in this news is the fact that only days ago Brian Cashman stated that the team will not give up its 2011 first round pick to sign any of the remaining free agents. Unless those words were used simply as a negotiating tactic (which for obvious reason didn't fucking work), it looks like Cashman may be losing the confidence of those above him. After missing out Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, I can't imagine the remaining Steinbrenners are too happy with their golden boy and perhaps forced his hand on this acquisition.

There is no doubt that this signing makes the Yankees better immediately, and takes a lot of pressure off their young (see: shitty) staff. If the Yankees are in the lead by the time the 8th inning rolls around I can't imagine them not winning 99% of those games. What this signing does, however, is once again mortgage a portion of New York's future. If you compare the Yankees offseason to that of the Boston Red Sox, the outcomes are night and day. Boston not only acquired the better free agents/trade acquisition they did so while actually upgrading their draft positions this year. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, plus the draft compensations they will receive from Victor Martinez signing in Detroit and Adrian Beltre signing in Texas greatly outway what they had to give up in prospects and draft picks to acquire the two superstars.

Then there's Tampa Bay who now possess 3 first round draft picks and 6 supplemental draft picks in what is being widely regarded as the deepest draft in years. That's how you compete in the AL East on a shoestring budget, and that's what Anthopolous is trying to do with the Blue Jays - except with more cash available when needed.