Joakim Soria took a big step in his recovery from Tommy John elbow surgery by throwing yesterday for the first time, but with his status for the beginning of next season still uncertain Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports that the Royals “are expected to exercise a $750,000 buyout clause” of his $8 million option.
That would make Soria a very interesting free agent, because he’s just 28 years old and was one of the truly elite relievers in baseball from 2007-2011. Dutton notes that “both sides have expressed interest in working out a new deal” but it seems likely that Soria would at least want to test the market and see if there are any teams willing to offer him multi-year deals.
Among all active pitchers with at least 250 career innings Soria ranks third in opponents’ OPS (.579), fifth in ERA (2.40), and ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.92).