The Braves shored up their bullpen at the expense of their rotation when they traded Horatio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano. Ramirez was solid in fourteen starts this year but it seems like every other year he’s on the shelf. Those walks were also a concern. He had 200 career walks vs. 248 strikeouts in 521 1/3 innings.
Rafael Soriano is a stud when he’s throwing. He’s also been on the shelf quite a bit the past few years but when he’s on, he’s a strikeout machine. Soriano was on the shelf for most of 2004 and 2005 but he came back in 2006 with a solid season. Soriano has a fantastic strikeout to walk ratio (177/53 in 171 innings) and he could very well close to the Braves in 2007.
