Tigers trade closer Joakim Soria to Pirates

Joakim Soria has been used as the Tigers closer this season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made another move to upgrade their bullpen on Thursday night, acquiring right-hander Joakim Soria from the Detroit Tigers for a minor leaguer.

Shortstop JaCoby Jones, not to be confused with the star NFL receiver, has struggled with the bat this season, although he’s had decent success in the low minors.

Outfielders Yoenis Cespedes and Rajai Davis are also pending free agents for the Tigers and highly likely to be dealt before Friday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. So now two of three are gone in the matter of a few hours.

What else is ready to know? “I’m going to have complete confidence to use Soria to close, like we’ve had with Watson when Melancon has been down”.

He joins an already-great Pittsburgh bullpen. The closer for the Pirates has a 1.32 ERA with 32 saves over 48 games, 40 of them finished.

Blanton, 34, had a 2.74 ERA and two saves in 11 relief appearances for the Royals after being moved from the starting rotation. Jared Hughes has a 1.99 ERA, too.

Soria only makes it deeper. The Pirates have a group capable of shortening games like that. In terms of predictive metrics, it would appear Soria should have a correction coming. The. 472 opponent batting average in that stretch. Jones has spent most of this season in High-A and he had a.253/.313/.396 slash line in 93 games there before getting promoted to Double-A. He has played just three games at the Double-A level. Most prospect reports don’t love his glove at short and he looks maybe like a future utility man?

Jones then went on to enjoy an All-American career at LSU, before the Pirates drafted him.

Of his his first experience in the National League, Soria smiled and replied, “Different league, same baseball”.

“Soria is a veteran closer, a late-inning reliever who’s been there, done that”. He said that decision is up to Brad Ausmus. “We got a good quality player back in return”.