Jays acquire Jose Soriano

[Stangstag]

7 minutes ago, HomeRunHomer said:

Nimmala had to go.  Didn't slap the ball enough.

You joke, but that definitely has to be a factor here

[jaysblue]

37 minutes ago, BTS said:

I never really understood the Nimmala hype, but I also don't think Soriano is more than a 3/4 who frustrates people with how often his command isn't there. So meh I guess. 

Yeah I don't view Soriano as a 1A or #2 behind Cease. The team control of 2 years is real nice and he's a solid #3/4 IMO, but hopefully he could lower the BB/9 to take that next step. Likely around a 3 WAR arm, but would be nice if the Jays could squeeze a 4-5 WAR season out of him. 

[VladdyAlomar]

We are done 

[Brownie19]

3 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Yeah I don't view Soriano as a 1A or #2 behind Cease. The team control of 2 years is real nice and he's a solid #3/4 IMO, but hopefully he could lower the BB/9 to take that next step. Likely around a 3 WAR arm, but would be nice if the Jays could squeeze a 4-5 WAR season out of him. 

3 WAR made Soriano the 25th ranked starter in MLB last year.  That would seem to make him more than a solid #3/4.

[BTS]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

3 WAR made Soriano the 25th ranked starter in MLB last year.  That would seem to make him more than a solid #3/4.

I don't think so on a contending team. Soriano right now isn't a guy you want as your #2 going into a playoff series.

[HomeRunHomer]

Personally I would rather have Nimmala with the work stoppage looming next year.  He's definitely boom or bust though and he didn't seem to be sinking in AA as a 20 year old.

[metafour]

This is a fair trade for a team that was always going to look to try to bounce back in 2027 and beyond. They didn't sign Cease for $200M+ so that they could give up after one bad season. You had clear holes in the rotation next season, and this gives you 3 good or better starters to build around.

Oh no, they traded Nimmala! You have to give up something to get something valuable in return. At this point last season Nimmala looked toast as he was struggling heavily in High A. They have done well to recoup his bat and to turn him around for 2.5 years of a GOOD starting pitcher who still has more in him. The Jays have done well with pitchers at the MLB level and I can easily see them building Soriano into a 4 fWAR starter.

They have seemingly hit on all of their first round picks over the past 3 drafts, so the whole argument that they'll never find a player like Nimmala again is beta-cuck behavior. He was the 20th overall pick; you can find and develop talent like this again.

[max silver]

48 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

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But realistically, I think the front office is perfectly happy with Gimenez as the SS for the rest of his contract. Which is kinda alarming lol

I'm going to wager the front office might prefer a do over on the Gimenez trade given the offensive struggles.

[Terminator]

I never liked that Nimmala kid anyway. He's a bum who is hitting .230 in the minors and those guys never pan out.

On the flip side, Soriano is a fun guy to get. In his current form he's a solid middle of the rotation starter for a playoff team.

But his stuff is good and his velo is outstanding, plus he's coming from a crappy org in LAA. So you can dream on squeezing more out of him and maybe he becomes a #2.

I wonder if they will try and extend him.

[Forever92]

1 hour ago, ValiantJaysFan said:

Just broke, details emerging. 
 

 

We know now why we acquired a ss in Gausman trade 

[Terminator]

 

[Pendleton]

He goes from the worst framing tandem to the best, and gets improved INF defense as a 90th percentile ground ball pitcher. 

[Brownie19]

27 minutes ago, BTS said:

I don't think so on a contending team. Soriano right now isn't a guy you want as your #2 going into a playoff series.

Not many contending teams have three 3 WAR guy in their rotations...

[Terminator]

10 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

He goes from the worst framing tandem to the best, and gets improved INF defense as a 90th percentile ground ball pitcher. 

Yep, it's the same playbook we used with Dylan Cease, just on a smaller scale.

Take a talented pitcher with elite stuff who needs help with his control and being more efficient. Tinker with some things and give them a good defense behind them and you'll be able to squeeze that extra gear out of them. 

Cease was a #2 that we have turned into a bon a fide ace. Soriano is a solid #3 that we can try to turn into a good #2.

[Brownie19]

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674 likes, 32 comments - cheapseats73 on August 3, 2026: "#Bluejays acquire Jose Soriano from the #Angels Good...

Nice little breakdown here. 

 

[Pendleton]

 

[G-Snarls]

30 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

He goes from the worst framing tandem to the best, and gets improved INF defense as a 90th percentile ground ball pitcher. 

It's hilarious that the Angels have both Tyler Heineman and Travis d'Arnaud catching

[Orgfiller]

13 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

It's hilarious that the Angels have both Tyler Heineman and Travis d'Arnaud catching

Heineman is probably the best catcher they’ve had for a while lol.

[Pendleton]

 

[Brownie19]

An interesting angle I just heard is that Soriano hasn't made a lot in arbitration yet.  When you start low, you typically stay relatively low, so he's likely to remain somewhat underpaid.  This may make him a better candidate for an extension as playing it out won't benefit him as much as it will for someone who has a huge year early and got paid in arbitration.

[keggy]

This has some of the same earmarks as the Varsho acquisition. Soriano will be ready to add value to a playoff team right away but losing a blue chip prospect considering age, pedigree, tools, and performance in the upper minors, losing Nimmala is going to hurt.

Moreno has already generated more surplus value than Varsho, with additional control remaining. But Varsho more directly allowed us to get to the World Series so we live with it. I'm hoping that is how this one turns out.

[BTS]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

Yep, it's the same playbook we used with Dylan Cease, just on a smaller scale.

Take a talented pitcher with elite stuff who needs help with his control and being more efficient. Tinker with some things and give them a good defense behind them and you'll be able to squeeze that extra gear out of them 

Cease was a #2 that we have turned into a bon a fide ace. Soriano is a solid #3 that we can try to turn into a good #2.

Soriano is weird. You watch him pitch a few games and come away thinking he has elite stuff and spotty command. And the results bear that out. Then you look at the pitch-level models and he has 98 STUFF+ and 105 LOCATION+ this year (103 and 102 last year). Curveball has gone from borderline elite in previous years to 91 STUFF+ this year. 

 

[Bob_Gratton]

It

1 minute ago, keggy said:

This has some of the same earmarks as the Varsho acquisition. Soriano will be ready to add value to a playoff team right away but losing a blue chip prospect considering age, pedigree, tools, and performance in the upper minors, losing Nimmala is going to hurt.

Moreno has already generated more surplus value than Varsho, with additional control remaining. But Varsho more directly allowed us to get to the World Series so we live with it. I'm guessing that is how this one turns out.

Jays needed more a CF than a catcher. Now if they trade Varsho the return should be good, and Atkins need find a better CF than Lukes or Straw.

[Bob_Gratton]

3 minutes ago, BTS said:

Soriano is weird. You watch him pitch a few games and come away thinking he has elite stuff and spotty command. And the results bear that out. Then you look at the pitch-level models and he has 98 STUFF+ and 105 LOCATION+ this year (103 and 102 last year). Curveball has gone from borderline elite in previous years to 91 STUFF+ this year. 

 

This trade remind me when they acquired Jose Berrios few years ago.

[keggy]

11 minutes ago, Bob_Gratton said:

It

Jays needed more a CF than a catcher. Now if they trade Varsho the return should be good, and Atkins need find a better CF than Lukes or Straw.

No arguments that Varsho helped with our short term goals, more than Moreno would have. And yes we should include any bounty from Varsho in our valuation, along with salaries. If the FO wants to get someone to eat Varsho's salary, which is probably the smart move, the prospet return won't be great.

[Terminator]

22 minutes ago, BTS said:

Soriano is weird. You watch him pitch a few games and come away thinking he has elite stuff and spotty command. And the results bear that out. Then you look at the pitch-level models and he has 98 STUFF+ and 105 LOCATION+ this year (103 and 102 last year). Curveball has gone from borderline elite in previous years to 91 STUFF+ this year. 

 

Hmm that's not good. He does have a good splitter though and Stuff models don't always pick up on that pitch. And you can bet your bottom dollar the Jays will be leaning into that. 

[sliderguy35]

50 minutes ago, BTS said:

Soriano is weird. You watch him pitch a few games and come away thinking he has elite stuff and spotty command. And the results bear that out. Then you look at the pitch-level models and he has 98 STUFF+ and 105 LOCATION+ this year (103 and 102 last year). Curveball has gone from borderline elite in previous years to 91 STUFF+ this year. 

 

Theres some pitch classification weirdness at play here. He tightened up the curveball to have a bit less drop & sweep this year, which has helped him locate it a lot better below the zone (look at the heatmaps of the pitch location in 2025 vs 2026) but it's also turned it into more of a slider/sweeper than a curveball.

If you grade it on the scale of being a curveball, it looks worse b/c it doesnt have the depth or the raw movement. However, sonny gray basically throws the same pitch (velo / movement / release height all similar), but he calls it a sweeper and it has a 122 stuff+ compared to other sweepers b/c it still generates a ton of sweep and depth at velocity.

He's also throwing his 4 seam more this year (which is bad & the models hate) & thats bringing down his overall stuff+ score. If the jays elect to make pitch mix changes, it'll be more favourable to him

[Brownie19]

Just now, sliderguy35 said:

Theres some pitch classification weirdness at play here. He tightened up the curveball to have a bit less drop & sweep this year, which has helped him locate it a lot better below the zone (look at the heatmaps of the pitch location in 2025 vs 2026) but it's also turned it into more of a slider/sweeper than a curveball.

If you grade it on the scale of being a curveball, it looks worse b/c it doesnt have the depth or the raw movement. However, sonny gray basically throws the same pitch (velo / movement / release height all similar), but he calls it a sweeper and it has a 122 stuff+ compared to other sweepers b/c it still generates a ton of sweep and depth at velocity.

He's also throwing his 4 seam more this year (which is bad & the models hate) & thats bringing down his overall stuff+ score. If the jays elect to make pitch mix changes, it'll be more favourable to him

I heard someone say they expect him to scrap the 4 seamer in Toronto.  Angels like 4 seamers and promote it - even though it's not a good pitch/shape for him.  He said the Jays don't do this and will make adjustments to pitch usage.

[jaysblue]

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

3 WAR made Soriano the 25th ranked starter in MLB last year.  That would seem to make him more than a solid #3/4.

Can you chill? 

I never said one bad thing about the deal at all or even criticized Atkins. 

Yes, he's more of a #3 guy at the moment. If he lowers the BB/9, he likely could take the next step, which I acknowledged in my post. Also, I said it would be nice to possible squeeze a 4-5 WAR season out of him, which might happen here under Pete Walker and this Jays staff. 

 

[Brownie19]

Just now, jaysblue said:

Can you chill? 

I never said one bad thing about the deal at all or even criticized Atkins at all. 

I'm completely chill.  You aren't the only one who suggested it. I just find it odd, given how few eclipse 3 WAR each year.