By: Jon Morrill
Alright, so it’s a cheap shot. Calling Alfonso Soriano “Alfonso Sorry-ano”, I mean. It’s really not fair–making fun of a man’s last name. It’s not like he can help it. But the truth is I’ve never liked Aflonso Soriano. “Boy with Man-Head”, I used to call him. Ever see the frame on that guy? He looks like something from the X-Files. It’s probably why he runs so well–he’s spent half of his life running from David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. But I digress… there are more reasons for me not to like Alfonso Soriano than just the fact that he looks like an orange stuck on top of a pencil (zing!). He always does well against my Red Sox, especially when he was a member of the hated Yankees.
But even if you were pro-Soriano at one point, let’s say when he was at the top of his game, you’d be hard pressed to like a lot about him these days. According to ESPN.com, 2005 was the fifth straight season in which Soriano struck out at least 120 times and failed to draw at least 40 walks. He’s also prone to late season slumps, and he gets “lazy” defensively. In fact, he’s a defensive liability altogether at second base; a position he refuses to relinquish. Shortly after being dealt to the Washington Nationals for outfielders Brad Wilkerson and Termel Sledge (we’ll get to that later), he was quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as saying “I obviously have the control. Of course I’m not going to play the outfield.” Arrogance, stubbornness and what’s perceived as laziness–helluva combination, wouldn’t you say? Soriano has also been reported as saying, “I didn’t change positions when I came to Texas from the Yankees. Why would I change now? I’m an All-Star at second base.” Sure, an All-Star at second base solely on your defense… right, Bill Mazeroski? You’re a regular Nap Lajoie, aren’t ya, Alfie? This wouldn’t be as problematic of an issue if it weren’t for the fact that the deal to which Soriano was dealt didn’t already have an All-Star caliber second baseman in Jose Vidro, who spent most of 2005 on the DL (wait for it… I’m getting to that).
From a birds eye view, the deal sending our beloved Alfonso Soriano to D.C. with Sledge and Wilkerson, who had a break out year in ’05, to Texas looks good; really good for the Nats, in fact. In ’05, the Nationals were a team dependent solely on pitching and were completely and utterly devoid of offense. Hopelessly even. They were a team that was in contention for most of the year, leading the NL East for most of the first half. Washington played in an incredible amount of one run games–in the first half winning most of them, but after the All-Star break losing most of them… as the law of averages would suggest. But no matter if they won or lost all of their one run games, it equates to two things: 1) that the Nats leaned heavily on their bullpen; with closer Chad Cordero saving 47 games in 54 opportunities–and 2) that there was virtually no pop in their lineup. So going after a bat like Soriano’s makes a lot of sense for Nationals GM Jim Bowden. After that, however, it’s quite apparent that whoever pulled the trigger on the deal was asleep at the wheel.
For starters, let’s look at the Rangers side of this trade because although it’s like comparing getting punched in the face and getting punched in the back of the head, it looks like the Rangers are the club who got slightly less hosed in the deal. As always with my columns, the good before the bad, shall we? Wilkerson broke out in a major way in 2005, even hitting for the cycle, in a pitcher’s paradise in Washington. He’s also a year younger than Soriano; and he’ll even play wherever you ask him. Termel Sledge is no prize pig, but he’s a good addition to a loaded Texas outfield. Now, for the bad stuff–what are Texas’ needs? What does Texas a l w a y s need? Pitching, pitching, pitching. What does Texas have an absolute surplus of? Outfielders–offensively minded ones at that. What does Texas trade for? MORE outfielders and a minor league pitcher who may or may not pan out. I don’t get it, and I’m not sure many people in Arlington do either.
Yet, as old school hardcore rappers Onyx once so eloquently put it–“b-b-but wait, it gets worse!” The District of Columbia has been on the business end of some raw deals, for sure, but this one could really hurt. For one, the Nationals play in a ballpark with a manifest destiny; one in which the playing field walls of RFK literally try to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Great for pitchers–terrible for Alfonso; especially when you take into account the fact that in 311 at bats at home this year, he hit .315 with 25 home runs and 73 batted in. This is in stark contrast when you look at his numbers on the road–a meek .224 batting average with half the home runs (11) and less than half of the RBI (31) with only 15 more at bats. That can’t look good for the Nats’ early Christmas present to their fans.
On top of that is the little matter of Soriano’s aforementioned xenophobic opposition to try the outfield for the betterment of the team. The Nationals already have an All-Star caliber second baseman in Jose Vidro, and that would mean that if Vidro were forced to move to the outfield, Nats skipper Frank Robinson would have not only a clunker in Soriano at second but also Christian Guzman–who was solid in his years in Minnesota, but was downright awful both in the field and at the plate in ’05–at shortstop. Unless both Guzman and Soriano start getting tips from their respective Double Play Fairy Grandmothers, the lovable and cuddly Robinson doesn’t have much of a middle infield to write home about. In addition, with Washington trading away Wilkerson and July 31st pickup OF Preston Wilson unlikely to resign with D.C., that leaves either Marlon Byrd or Ryan Church patrolling centerfield. Ask the Phillies how they felt about their own `Marlon Byrd: Starting Centerfielder’ experiment.
Jim Bowden may have been trying to make one final splash to enhance his apparently now futile chances to get the vacant Boston GM job. But it appears the deal was a huge stink bomb in a pool filled with already troubled waters.
But, hey, at least Ryan Zimmerman sounds promising.