We all love Michael Soroka. We’re all sad his career has gone the way it has, right?
Well, Soroka had his second-best season last year, putting up 1.1 fWAR for the Nationals and Cubs. He actually had 1.2 fWAR for the Nationals in 16 starts, but then kind of imploded while barely pitching for the Cubs down the stretch.
Soroka is projected to be something like a league-average starter in terms of quality of innings, while working more of a heavy swingman workload. His xFIP was similar to his FIP in 2025, so there’s not much of an upside play around HR/FB, but his contact management was much better than his peripherals or actual runs allowed, so any thoughts on upside are probably there. In terms of both command and stuff, his slurve is his real winner pitch, and the rest of his arsenal is largely a way to set it up. (He threw a slider before last year, the slurve is similar but about two mph slower.)
Soroka didn’t take long to sign, securing a $7.5 million commitment from the Diamondbacks. You can see why they jumped: while the Diamondbacks aren’t projected to be terrible right now, they are projected to have one of the worst rotations in the game. Soroka is an upgrade for them, and at $7.5 million, there was probably a lot less risk (“Oh no, we’re paying $7.5 million for a mop-up long guy” as the downside) relative to upside (a league-average starter for about 40 percent of the market price of one).
In a vacuum, I would’ve easily done that deal, and not just because I love Michael Soroka. Maybe the Braves didn’t because of Soroka’s long-standing set of issues with the mound at Truist Park. Maybe they have other plans. Who knows. Would you have done that deal, though, all things considered?