With the headlines surrounding the Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) trade from the Mets to the Brewers, there’s a lot of talk about vesting options. For K-Rod, a $17.5 million option vests if he closes out 55 games this season, when he already has 34 games finished heading into the All-Star Break. But what do the Royals have on their pitching staff that’s similar? Actually, Joakim Soria is in the same place — albeit for far less money.
Soria is on pace to close out 69 games, even with his issues earlier in the year, and that will officially kick in a $6 million vesting option for next season. It was basically a guaranteed option anyway if Soria even remotely performed adequately since it had 55 games as the mark to beat. Soria has passed that mark in three of his first four seasons already.
For a team to pay $6 million for its stud closer is still a solid buy and the Soria acquisition has paid dividends for some time.