Rafael Soriano

SI.com's Jon Heyman has reported the New York Yankees have finally landed a top free agent. All-Star closer Rafael Soriano and the Yankees have agreed to terms in a deal reportedly worth $35 million over three years, according to HardBallTalk.com.

The Major League Baseball free agency period is beginning to wind down. Adrian Beltre has signed with the Texas Rangers, Matt Garza is now a Chicago Cub after a big trade and many teams have wrapped up signing players for the 2011 season.

Happy New Year Bleacher Report, hope your 2011 is a good one for all of you.

For the Yankees, they are looking to have a strong 2011 after a disappointing end to the 2010 season. So far, they've re-signed Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, brining in Russell Martin and Pedro Feliciano as well.

Their main priority was getting stronger in the pitching department, but so far they have failed. They made a huge pitch to Cliff Lee, who turned them down to return to the Phillies.

The Chicago White Sox, at this point, is like the friend begging for a slice of a pizza he did not pay for. Basically, they are out of money or over budget or in need of a bailout or some kind of term involving spending too much or not having enough money.

Then again, everyone thought that was the case before the Sox signed middle reliever Jesse Crain to a three-year, $13 million deal.

It's been an eerily quiet offseason for most clubs.

While teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers have all been among the most active thus far, most have remained rather inactive in the early part of the free agent season.

With so many long-term contracts in the past that have proven to be a burden to clubs down the road, general managers aren't spending lavishly like in previous times.

It's a bad time to be a remaining free agent, because the amount of money left to spend is shrinking by the day. 

While most of the winter's biggest prizes have been snatched up (Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford to name a couple) and delivered as early Christmas presents to franchises, there still remains a solid group of free agents who can impact the upcoming season for many prospective teams. In the spirit of the New Year, let's countdown from the Type Bs to Type As remaining on the Free Agent landscape and where they will land in 2011:

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I have mentioned this a few times already, but he is worth the attention again.
 
Rafael Soriano is still a free agent, available and on the market. Whatever it is shocking considering he was the AL’s dominate closer in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
 
Even before Cliff Lee’s decision, Soriano as a player would have been more than enough for the New York Yankees to walk away with heads high.
 

The latest MLB rumors on Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano and Derrek Lee are here, and Bleacher Report has the inside track on where these players may be headed, for how many years and for how much. 

Beltre leads the class of remaining free agents, and although there are only a few teams reportedly in the sweepstakes, there may be a few dark-horse candidates that no one else is talking about.

Many of the big names in MLB free agency have already signed with teams, and as widely reported, the Yankees haven't had their usual success.

A few names still float out there.  Mostly aging or battered pieces, but there is still intrigue with some of them.

Should the Yankees give Manny Ramirez and Raphael Soriano a look?  Some evidence suggests that maybe it could work out, but a lot of it points in the other direction.

Brian Cashman and the entire Yankees organization are still hiding under the covers. It’s been a rough offseason for New York; not necessarily because they missed out on talent, but because the organization was continually embarrassed.