Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times has written a defense of Alfonso Soriano, in which appears this item:
It also has been well documented that what drove the price so high had nothing to do with the baseball operations side of the team, nor Jim Hendry. It came directly from the top of an organization that was about to put the club up for sale and needed a quick-fix big splash in the free-agent market to make the product more attractive. Former Cubs president John McDonough admitted in 2007 he closed the deal himself, adding years and value to it.
Interesting if true, since it helps absolve Jim Hendry of some degree of responsibility for the one mess he created that there’s no way out of. There are other messes, sure. I consider Milton Bradley a problem, and Fukudome a lesser one. I consider Larry Rothschild a problem. But Rothschild can be dismissed after the season ends. Bradley and Fukudome will have to stay one more year, after which, with only a year remaining on their contracts, they can probably both be traded to teams willing to pay half their salaries. I won’t enjoy watching a team whose entire outfield is being showcased for trades. I would much prefer a team composed entirely of players who have a future with the team and whom the management actually likes; but as a Cub fan I’m accustomed to waiting till next year and can be persuaded, this once, to wait till the season after next, when the everyday lineup will no longer be weakened by expensive scouting mistakes.
Except in left field, of course, where Soriano gets a raise to $18 million in 2010 for his fine work this season, and then gets $18 million for four years after that, through 2014. I can’t wait that long. Nor do I think the Cubs will win or even be an interesting team as long as one of their worst players makes the most money. We can only hope that the new owner has a plan that will separate the team from this toxic asset. Zell should have been forced to eat Soriano’s contract as a condition of the sale, but I have no reason to believe that Ricketts played hardball on this matter.
As for today’s article defending Soriano, I did not consider it a quality start by the writer. He concedes that Soriano has a .241 average, misses fly balls and strikes out a lot, but then he reminds us of his “ungodly hitting streaks,” as though Soriano was a flawed superstar having an off season.
Soriano is certainly having a bad season, perhaps to be followed by a decent one. The problem is that he’s no longer a superstar or a star in any sense. The Cubs thought they were signing a 40-40 man, someone who could lead off and steal bases and steal runs: someone who could kick-start the offense just by walking or singling. Soriano’s speed game is gone, probably forever. His SBs are in single digits today. Someone defending Soriano will at least have to explain how he will ever steal 20 bases again, let alone 40, and he will have to cite other players in their mid-thirties whose legs made a comeback.
Without the running game, Soriano is just another in a long list of undistinguished players, past and current, who can hit twenty home runs but can’t field a position, not even first base. Leftfield-only players are not valuable commodities unless, like Manny Ramirez, they are premier sluggers. Adam Dunn this year was twice the hitter Soriano was, but Dunn is working under a two-year deal for $20 million, not eight years for $136. The Cubs have two low-paid players on the bench every day, Fox and Hoffpauir, who, with as many at bats as Soriano, would have as many home runs. Both can play left as well as Soriano, and Hoffpauir is actually a good first baseman, so by definition he is worth more than the player Wittenmyer is defending. Hoffpauir and Fox both have hot streaks and not-so-hot streaks when they play regularly. Hoffpauir is a type of player sometimes referred to as AAAA, as in triple-A plus one, i.e., not quite a major leaguer. Former Cubs like Dubois and Dopirak are in that category, players who could probably hit .250 in the majors with 20 home runs but who won’t get the chance, because that just isn’t enough production from a no-field left fielder.
Three years into an eight-year contract, Soriano has gone from 40-40 to 20-10. He is not remotely tradeable. Midway through the 2014 season, pushing 39 years old, when there is only $9 million still owed to him, he will not be remotely tradeable. There is nothing Hendry or any other GM can do with him. A month ago, this should have been Zell’s problem, but now it belongs to the new owner and his accountants. Ricketts simply has to make Soriano go away.
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