The navy blue Indians uniform wasn't the only thing Juan Uribe wore as he walked around the team's spring training complex for the first time.

He also sported a wide grin.

After waiting on a deal and working through problems with his visa, Uribe finally signed with the Indians on Sunday and was thrilled to have the opportunity to start his 16th season in the majors.

“I was kind of worried because this is what I know to do and this is what I love to do,” Uribe said through a translator. “I was kind of like, ‘I know that I got a feeling that the Indians are going to sign me and I got a feeling that we're going to be able to get into a deal.'?”

The Indians were adamant about signing the 36-year-old veteran to be their primary third baseman this season, manager Terry Francona said.

“We were trying to get him all winter,” Francona said.

The Indians pursued Uribe for numerous reasons. The first of those, according to Francona, was that the Indians wanted third baseman Giovanny Urshela, who played in 76 games as a rookie for Cleveland last year, to start the season in Triple-A.

“Gio wasn't ready quite offensively when he got to Cleveland last year,” Francona said. “Getting him some at-bats at Triple-A might end up being the final touch to him being an everyday third baseman in the major leagues, which would be great.”

Finishing his 2015 season having hit just below his career average of .256, Uribe is still a serviceable hitter and fielder. He played for the Dodgers and Braves earlier last year and wound up in the World Series with the Mets.

Blue Jays: Former All-Star closer Rafael Soriano has signed a minor league contract.

The American League East champions said Sunday that the right-handed reliever will be invited to spring training.

Soriano, 36, pitched six games for the Chicago Cubs last July after signing as a free agent, going 2-0 with a 6.35 ERA. His last full season came in 2014 with the Washington Nationals.

An All-Star with Tampa Bay in 2010, Soriano ranks eighth among active pitchers with 207 career saves. He has also been with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees over 14 big league seasons.

Yankees: Pitcher Ivan Nova was fine and able to complete his batting practice session Sunday after being struck on the right thigh by a deflected liner hit by Aaron Judge.

Nova said the shot by the 6-foot-7, 255-pound Judge went off his glove first and “didn't hit me too hard.”

“You don't want anyone doing it, but that's definitely not the first guy I'd pick,” manager Joe Girardi said.

Pirates: General manager Neal Huntington acknowledged on Sunday that the team erroneously computed Gerrit Cole's salary offer for 2016, which led to a public spat with their ace pitcher.

The Pirates initially offered Cole a $538,000 contract, a $7,000 increase over his base salary last year. According to Huntington, that was a franchise-record pay raise for a player with only two-plus years of big league service time.

However, Cole's total earnings last season were $541,000 because he got a $10,000 bonus for making the National League All-Star team.

“I understand the business of this game, but it is hard to accept that a year of performance success does not warrant an increase in pay,” Cole told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Cole went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. He was the Pirates' starting pitcher in the NL wild-card game.

Because Cole has less than three years' major league service time, the Pirates can impose any salary over the minimum of $507,500.

The Pirates use an in-house algorithm to determine salary increases for their “zero-to-three” players. Huntington said the system weighs service time, playing time and performance.

When Cole's figure was computed, however, his All-Star bonus was not included. Cole's agent, Scott Boras, balked when the Pirates gave him the $538,000 offer.

“We made a mistake in the process,” Huntington said. “We didn't have to move [the figure]. We felt they made a valid point [and] we made the adjustment.”