Marlins out on Rafael Soriano

The Marlins are no longer considering signing reliever Rafael Soriano to address their bullpen woes, according to a report from Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Spencer's report comes a day after it was learned that the sides were in negotiations about a deal, with things seeming to be getting serious in the wake of Steve Cishek's demotion from the team's closer role.

The collapse of negotiations likely signals that Soriano's asking price is still high at this point, following a report from FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal that stated that Miami was only interested in signing him at a low price. Soriano is the offseason's best unsigned free agent at this point, and has only drawn marginal interest from teams like the Twins, Dodgers and Mariners in recent weeks.

With Soriano no longer an option, the team could turn to the trade market, where Phillies' closer Jonathan Papelbon and Brewers' closer Francisco Rodriguez among the potentially-available names. Philadelphia may be willing to work out an intra-division trade for Papelbon, who is one of many veterans on their roster who they are aggressively looking to move at this point in the season.

If Miami sticks with internal options at closer, A.J. Ramos, Mike Dunn and Bryan Morris are among the names who could step up and be considered. On the lower-tier free agent market, Chris Perez, Jose Veras, Juan Carlos Oviedo and Brian Wilson have closing experience in the past.