Rafael Soriano hires Scott Boras - MLB

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times reports that Rafael Soriano has hired Scott Boras as his agent.

It was probably a forgone conclusion that Soriano was going to leave via free agency anyway, but this likely seals it, seeing as though guys don’t usually hire Boras to negotiate their creative, incentive-laden, keep-me-with-my-current-team deals.

The Rays certainly got great use out of him. Hoping to grab a draft pick, the Braves offered Soriano arbitration last winter, only to have him accept it. After bringing in Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito, however, Atlanta wasn’t about to pay Soriano $7 million, so they traded him to Tampa Bay for baubles and trinkets. All he’s done for the Rays is post a 1.76
ERA, a 0.78 WHIP and notch 44 saves in 47 chances this season.

Soriano has been one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball over the past five years. Yes, there’s a lot of mileage on that arm of his, but he’ll likely get a nice payday all the same.

ST. LOUIS — Miles Mikolas is sticking with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The right-hander signed a three-year, $55.75 million contract on Friday that will carry through the 2025 season.

The new deal replaces a $68 million, four-year contract signed in February 2019 that covered the 2020-23 seasons and was set to pay $15.75 million this year.

Mikolas will receive a $5 million signing bonus payable July 1 and will make $18.75 million in 2023 and $16 million in each of the following two seasons. Mikolas can earn a $250,000 bonus for winning a Cy Young Award, $50,000 for All-Star election or selection or winning a Gold Glove, $100,000 for League Championship Series MVP and $150,000 for World Series MVP.

Mikolas is scheduled to make the second opening-day start of his big league career next Thursday when the Cardinals host Toronto. Mikolas went 12-13 with a 3.29 ERA last season while helping St. Louis to the NL Central title.

“Miles stands among the top pitchers in the game today, and has continued to provide a steady presence for us both in the rotation and inside the clubhouse,” St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

Mikolas is 45-40 with a 3.79 in 143 games with San Diego, Texas and St. Louis. He recently pitched six shutout innings in two appearances for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic.