M's acquire Braves' left-hander Horacio Ramirez

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — A Mariners team in desperate need of starting pitching is to announce soon that it has acquired left-hander Horacio Ramirez from the Atlanta Braves.

A major-league front-office source confirmed that a deal to bring Ramirez to Seattle, in exchange for relief pitcher Rafael Soriano, has been agreed to and that all that remains is the announcement.

"There were physicals, but they're all done and it's going through," the source said.

Ramirez, 27, went 12-4 as a rookie starter for the Braves in 2003 but his career has been hampered by injury. He won 11 games in 2005, but fell to 5-5 with a 4.48 earned run average in a 2006 campaign that saw him felled by a hamstring problem, a line drive off his head and a pulled tendon in his finger.

Those who follow the Braves closely say that Ramirez, when healthy, is a legitimate No. 3 starter. But there remains the question of how he'll handle the jump to the tougher-hitting American League and whether he can, in fact, stay healthy.

Soriano, who turns 27 next week, went 1-2 with a 2.25 ERA in 53 appearances last season. But his arm was somewhat redundant in a Mariners bullpen loaded with hard throwers, making him one of the team's key trade components.

Ramirez earned $2.2 million and even with a bump beyond that in arbitration will stand to save Seattle compared to the cost of signing a free-agent arm. But the pending deal will still be seen as a comedown from some of the bigger names being courted by the Mariners — who lost out to the Dodgers in the bidding for Jason Schmidt earlier in the day.

The relatively low cost of attaining Ramirez could enable the Mariners to stockpile money to take a run at a bigger-name free-agent. Barry Zito keeps being mentioned as a possibility, though the Texas Rangers are thought to be the frontrunners for his services.

Seattle has also expressed interest in free agent Miguel Batista, though the Mariners have yet to make him an offer. Batista is already thought to have fielded a three-year, $24-million offer from the Kansas City Royals.

"There are a bunch of teams interested and Seattle is one of them," Batista's agent, Martin Arburua, said earlier today. "We'll just have to wait and see how things play out over the next few days."