Rafael Soriano and the Nationals have agreed in principle to a two-year, $28 million contract, an industry source confirmed.
Soriano, 33, successfully leveraged his excellent 2012 season with the Yankees — in which he collected 42 saves in 46 chances, after Mariano Rivera went down with a right knee injury — into a full-time closing opportunity. Though the Nationals already had a closer in Drew Storen, Washington historically has a strong relationship with Soriano’s agent Scott Boras, and that connection paid off here.
Since Soriano rejected the Yankees’ qualifying offer of $13.3 million in November, the Yankees will receive a compensatory draft pick in the 2013 “sandwich round” (between the first and second rounds). Washington will forfeit its first-round pick in return for signing Soriano, who opted out of the third and final year (which was worth $14 million) of his deal with the Yankees.
The agreement also features a vesting option for $14 million in 2015, if Soriano totals 120 games finished in 2013 and 2014.