I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’d all better get used to seeing Alfonso Soriano in left field. At least according to Nick Cafardo:
Unless someone is in desperate need of an aging-kind-of-still-slugger at the trade deadline, I can’t imagine the Cubs getting anything “of note” for Soriano.
So here’s a topic for this rainy Sunday afternoon: Which deal was worse for the Cubs: Signing Milton Bradley or the deal Jim Hendry gave Alfonso Soriano?
Soriano by a mile- the cubs don’t have Bradley now,do they? I am watching the Patriot game, and the temp is higher there then in CA…
Bradley and it isn’t even close.
A) Soriano has provided SOME value for the money he was paid. Also, he was paid the market rate, or close to it. Soriano was THE offensive free agent commodity on the market that year.
2) Nobody was going to give Bradley 3 years. Nobody. I have a hard time believing he was getting a crapload of 2-year offers given his history, but there was Hendry giving him three guaranteed years. It was lunacy.
Threeve) Soriano is a leader and a role-model for the young kids and that is paying off now as they see his preparation and work ethic.
Bradley was a piece of shit who did nothing for the organization except embarrass it. I don;t think the writers gave him a fair shot when he first got here, but he proved his true colors over and over.
Bradley. Guy didn’t even last one season and the best we could get for him when we went to unload him was Carlos Silva. Soriano has at least provided production beyond the first year of his contract and even if we have to eat part of the salary (which the Cubs ultimately did when we released Carlos Silva), eating part of Soriano’s contract gets us at bare minimum a player under team control.
Tough question. Soriano got about 3 years too many, Bradley got 3 years too many. As far as Soriano being a good influence on the young kids, I remember reading somewhere that Fonsie was introducing Darlin’ Starlin to the Chicago nightlife during his rookie year. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Personally I’d like the roster to be rid of Hendry’s guys so I don’t want to see Sori and Marmol in Cub uniforms next season.
Honestly…I think his “role model” talk and leader shit that is coming out of Theo’s mouth right now is nothing more than trying to talk up the market for this guy.
The Cubs were concerned about Soriano’s influence on both Felix Pie and Starlin Castro as those youngsters made their way to the big leagues and supposedly for good reason.
Soriano’s work ethic has been something that has been noted since he did come here and it has been nice that the Cubs seem to actually have some people in place now to help Soriano to finally get the most out of the large amount of work he actually does put in before each game….but the rest of that stuff is just hasn’t appeared true during the first 6 years he has been in Chicago.
As far as the contracts…I believe this is a wash. Soriano’s contract has handcuffed (not super severely, but still handcuffed) the Cubs for a longer time than Bradley’s had. No one was going to give Soriano 8 years. It might have been a stretch for anyone to give him 6 years. Bradley’s contract was stupid and many of us predicted his stint with the Cubs would end exactly as it did. And while I don’t think anyone else was going to give Bradley 3 years (and it might have been a push for anyone to give him even 2 years), it was a smaller and shorter deal for less talented player.
Bradley’s arrival in Chicago did mark the beginning of this team spiral to the bottom of the National League standings, while Soriano’s pushed the Cubs to the top of the National League standings.
At the same time, the Cubs were actually able to trade Bradley. Yes, they didn’t get much more for him than a 275 pound bag of lard, but they were still able to unload him. The same can’t be said about Soriano who really doesn’t have a role (despite what Theo says) on a 101 loss team that has been gutted.
Again…I think this is really a wash. Bradley’s arrival in Chicago helped start this downward spiral…but Soriano’s contract has, to some extent, helped extend that spiral.