A transaction that was first reported about a week ago is finally complete, and Juan Uribe is finally a Cleveland Indian. Visa issues delayed the union temporarily, but, with those finally solved, Uribe was free to sign his new one-year, $4 million contract with the Indians. He arrived in Cleveland on Saturday to take a physical and signed the deal Sunday morning, shortly before participating in his first workout with his new teammates.
The 36 year-old Uribe is expected to serve as Cleveland’s everyday third baseman, and will start at the hot corner on Opening Day. Despite his advanced age, in baseball years, Uribe is showing few signs of slowing down. In 2014, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Uribe turned in a .311 average and fifty-four RBI, grading out at a 4.0 WAR for the year. He is a .256 hitter for his career.
Last year, playing for the Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, and the New York Mets, the fifteen-year veteran launched fourteen home runs and drove in forty-eight runners. Six of those bombs, and twenty of those RBI, came in forty-four games with New York, as he helped the Mets along a stretch run that saw them clinch the National League East.
Uribe is certainly seasoned; he began his career in 2001 with the Colorado Rockies, and has since seen time with the Chicago White Sox and the San Francisco Giants, in addition to LA, Atlanta, and New York. If he can keep putting up solid numbers, the Indians will have found themselves a solid third baseman for a bargain. Jose Ramirez will back up Uribe at third. Giovanny Urshela, who made his big league debut last season, will likely open the year at Triple-A Columbus.
While Uribe was signing with Cleveland, another veteran found a new home further north. Former All-Star closer Rafael Soriano agreed to join the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
Soriano, 36, has spent fourteen years in the major leagues, pitching for the Seattle Mariners, the Braves, the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees, the Washington Nationals, and the Chicago Cubs. In 2010, He earned an All-Star nod for his efforts with the Rays. That season, he recorded a 1.73 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP on his was to forty-five saves. He has topped forty saves in two other seasons, and ranks eighth among active pitchers with 207 career saves.
The veteran appeared in just six games for the Cubs last season, going 2-0 with a 6.35 ERA. He last pitched a full season in 2014 for the Nationals and worked his way to a solid year. He saved thirty-two games, the fourth-highest single-season total of his career, and struck out fifty-nine batters while walking just nineteen. If he has anything left in his arm, he could be a solid addition for the defending American League champs.
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