Rays had to close this deal for Soriano

Maybe the Yankees did spook them.

Not that the Rays didn't know they needed a true door-slamming closer, which they think they have in Rafael Soriano, who will come over from the Braves. We shall see.

These are the same Rays who talked about holding steady on payroll, whose owner, Stu Sternberg, said recently that there wasn't a $7 million closer out there.

Apparently there was.

Soriano will make that this season, maybe more.

Well ...

The Rays needed to do something. The Yankees are back and then some. The Red Sox aren't going away, even if it seems like they're taking a step back. This is no time for holes in rosters, even if it means a dizzying payroll, at least by Rays standards, of up near $70 million, though they could lower it by selling Pat Burrell's body to a medical college. Back to the new back end of the bullpen. Soriano better be the real deal.

Like I've said before, the Yankees and Red Sox just pave over even high-priced mistakes. The Rays have to live with them. They thought they could get by without a true closer last season, and they couldn't.

Soriano, who turns 30 on Dec. 19, brings a fastball, 100 miles fast. He converted on 27 of 31 saves opportunities for the Braves last season, striking out 102 batters in 752/3 innings.

That is heat.

That is high, hard relief after watching the disaster of the Rays hanging any kind of hope on the tired arms of Troy Percival and Jason Isringhausen, a mistake then and a mistake now, or leaving closing to J.P. Howell, goofy, talented J.P., who is better as a setup man, I think. Soriano bumps everybody up in the bullpen, Howell to the eighth, Grant Balfour or Dan Wheeler to the seventh, and so on. It's winning math.

Consider that the Rays only gave up pitcher Jesse Chavez, who came over when the Rays traded Akinori Iwamura. So that's Aki for a closer, and that's not a bad day.

Granted, Soriano has had his share of arm problems in his career, but I guess if you subtracted all the guys with arm troubles from all the guys without you'd be lucky to wind up with Nolan Ryan. This is a good deal if Soriano is the Soriano of 2009.

True, after all this talk about payroll, I wonder if the Rays have really seen the light ... or if they'll simply be cutting loose some players sooner rather than later.

Dioner Navarro is one thing, but Carl Crawford? How do you not think about that this morning? Or wonder if the Rays just gave up any wiggle room to adjust during next season? Soriano better be the real deal.

Burrell wasn't, and now the Rays can't get rid of him. They're down to hoping he has a big contract year.

Me? I like closers who throw gas. I like closers who can throw it by you even when their control isn't at its best.

The Rays changed the bullpen each of the last three offseasons. Baseball ops chief Andrew Friedman has reams of statistics that bear out the fact that the same bullpen rarely has the same success from season to season. The Rays tweaked two seasons ago, and it was a big reason why they shocked the world and made the World Series. They tweaked last season and, well, not so much.

The Rays had no choice here. They can't stand pat. Not in the AL East, not with Trop tickets to sell, not in good conscience.