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Washington Nationals: Spring Training 2013 - Rafael Soriano's Arrival Delayed By Visa Issue

The Washington Nationals' pitchers and catchers held their first workout of the 2013 season this morning, at which point beat writers covering the team in Florida noticed that new closer Rafael Soriano had yet to arrive. Reports quickly followed which said visa issues had delayed his arrival.

Washington Nationals' pitchers and catchers held their first official workout of the year this morning in Viera, Florida.
Washington Nationals' pitchers and catchers held their first official workout of the year this morning in Viera, Florida.
Photo via @NationalsPR on Twitter

With Washington Nationals' pitchers and catchers scheduled to have their first workout this morning, the beat writers in Viera, Florida covering the team noticed that one pitcher had yet to arrive. 33-year-old San Jose, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic-born right-hander Rafael Soriano, who signed a 2-year/$28M dollar deal this winter, was not in Space Coast Stadium two days after pitchers and catchers reported on Tuesday. Not long after his absence was noted, the following reports came out via Twitter explaining his absence:

The 11-year-veteran saved 42 games for the New York Yankees last year, posting a 2.26 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 24 walks (3.19 BB/9) and 69 Ks (9.18 K/9) in 69 games and 67.2 IP over which he was worth +1.2 fWAR. Soriano opted out of the third year of a 3-year/$35M dollar deal with NY and hit the free agent market looking for a team in need of a closer. Nats' GM Mike Rizzo has described adding the veteran reliever to the Nationals' pen as a strengthening a strength, giving manager Davey Johnson three legitimate closer options in Soriano, Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard. Soriano was brought in to work the ninth, however, as the Nationals' GM explained when Washington introduced the pitcher to the nation's capital earlier this winter.

"Whenever you're talking about signing a free agent with the resume of Rafael," Rizzo told reporters, "I think that you're speaking to the player, you're paying the player and the expectations for the player is that [he's] going to finish out games."

Soriano will join his new team as soon as he gets the visa issues sorted out, which CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman just tweeted could be any day now: