QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2010 -> 09:25 AM)
The two games I followed on-line, most of his fastballs were 90-92. Maybe they were two seam sinkers, not sure what was up, but before all of his injuries, when he first came up with Seattle, he was at 94-98 consistently.
I never have once said anywhere at SoxTalk that Rauch was even a "good" closer. Where did that come from?
Yes, Soriano, if healthy, is much better than Rauch. The question has always been about his durability.
I've also seen those three adjectives used to describe Jon Adkins, Arnie Munoz's curveball, Gio's curveball, Felix Diaz, Lorenzo Barcelo, Nick Masset, Sisco, etc.
Soriano's avg fastball velocity is 93.3 this year. It was 93.3 last year and it's on par with what he did when he started his career with Seattle.