Soriano, most unselfish player ever?...

[CJM]

 The Link

 

Quote:
VIERA, Fla. -- Alfonso Soriano refused to play the outfield for the Washington Nationals in what was supposed to be his spring training debut Monday night, and general manager Jim Bowden said his biggest offseason acquisition will go on the disqualified list if he doesn't agree to switch positions this week.  

[The Gaffer]

The guy is a cunt, pure and simple.

[MusicMan]

I'm not going to dispute the assessment of Soriano, but Bowden is an absolute tool for making that trade.

[Reuben]

Quote:
I'm not going to dispute the assessment of Soriano, but Bowden is an absolute tool for making that trade.

Bowden seems to have always been a tool, but still, Frank Robinson should smack Soriano around and tell him to get his insignificant, bad-fielding, prima-donna ass in LF. Jesus H, what is it with this "I'm not switching positions" or "I'm not going to the bullpen" bullshit? ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE NOT GREAT AT WHAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY DOING, AND ACCEPT THAT YOUR TEAM, WHOM YOU ARE CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED TO PLAY FOR, WANTS YOU TO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE. It's amazing that he doesn't realize how much harm he's doing to his next contract.

[Ty in Tampa]

I agree. I fear that will get lost in the whole selfish indignation circus.

[astro pete]

Quote:

Quote:
I'm not going to dispute the assessment of Soriano, but Bowden is an absolute tool for making that trade.

Bowden seems to have always been a tool, but still, Frank Robinson should smack Soriano around and tell him to get his insignificant, bad-fielding, prima-donna ass in LF. Jesus H, what is it with this "I'm not switching positions" or "I'm not going to the bullpen" bullshit? ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE NOT GREAT AT WHAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY DOING, AND ACCEPT THAT YOUR TEAM, WHOM YOU ARE CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED TO PLAY FOR, WANTS YOU TO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE. It's amazing that he doesn't realize how much harm he's doing to his next contract.

This contract, too.  It sounds as though he's pissing $10 million away.

[Taras Bulba]

Wasn't there a straight up between Houston and NY in 2001 with Alou for Soriano which Alou declined due to his non-trade clause?

[MusicMan]

I don't recall if Alou was involved, but I distinctly remember Hun commenting that we had targeted Soriano for CF.

[Froback]

Quote:
This contract, too.  It sounds as though he's pissing $10 million away.

I think the better part is, if he is put on the Delinquent list (or what ever it is called), he will not accure enough service time to reach FA next year, and then he is in the same boat again.

It is in his best interest to play out the year and then only sign with a team that will use him as a 2B...

BTW, I think he is a tool, but a very talented tool... They come along every once and a while and almost all of them screw their careers up being more of the tool, than the talent.

[OldBlevins]

Probably what will happen is that he'll get traded to a team that will use him at 2d, so he'll get what he wants.

[S.P. Rodriguez]

Who would use him at 2B?  At this point, the Nats will be lucky to get a minor leaguer after giving up Wilkerson AND Sledge.  I really don't get how Bowden continues to find employment in baseball.

[The Gaffer]

Hard to believe now, but I'm pretty sure the Yankees offered us Soriano straight up for D. Ward.

[OldBlevins]

Quote:
Who would use him at 2B?  At this point, the Nats will be lucky to get a minor leaguer after giving up Wilkerson AND Sledge.  I really don't get how Bowden continues to find employment in baseball.

an interesting question, and my guess is he will not be the Nats' GM after this season, between this screw-up and the new owner's inevitable, "Jim did a great job, but I want to have my own person in this position" speech.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

The most homers ever by a second baseman is truly one of the great records in sports.

Hell, it pretty much got Sandberg in the HoF. Don't know about Kent...

[JimR]

SI said: Soriano and Ted Lilly for Alou. Mo nixed it.

[Bench]

Quote:
I'm not going to dispute the assessment of Soriano, but Bowden is an absolute tool for making that trade.

Exactly. It seems like neither team nor player are acting professionally in this case. The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

The most amusing thing to me about this whole thing is that Soriano is an abysmal second basemen. I remember one game early in the WBC when the batter pushed a bunt in between the pitcher and the first basemen. They both charged, first baseman picked up and turned to fire to first. Soriano had never taken a step from his original position and was intently watching the play with his hands on his knees. So, if he's so attached to second base, why the hell doesn't he actually play the position?

[HudsonHawk]

Quote:

Exactly. It seems like neither team nor player are acting professionally in this case. The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

While I understand how Bowden can be a tool for making the deal, I'm reading WAY more support for Soriano in this deal than I thought possible.  Not that you've suggested this, but I cannot begin to fathom how people are actually defending Soriano as having somehow taken the high road in this mess.

[Froback]

Quote:
The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

The way I hear it, the Rangers didn't let Bowden talk to hiim until after the deal was made.  Good move on their part.  But Soriano has been making statements since he was a Yankee that he didn't want to move to the OF, that he wanted to play 2B.  At the time the Rangers got him, they moved Young from 2B to SS.  Granted Young had to move to 2B because of A-Rod, but I think the Rangers would have prefered him (Soriano) be an OFer too, but that didn't work out.
The funny part is this was the media's first response when the Nats got him.  For ONCE the media actually got somehthing right!

Who knew it could happen?!?!?

[Bench]

Quote:

Quote:
The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

The way I hear it, the Rangers didn't let Bowden talk to hiim until after the deal was made.  Good move on their part.  But Soriano has been making statements since he was a Yankee that he didn't want to move to the OF, that he wanted to play 2B.  At the time the Rangers got him, they moved Young from 2B to SS.  Granted Young had to move to 2B because of A-Rod, but I think the Rangers would have prefered him (Soriano) be an OFer too, but that didn't work out.
The funny part is this was the media's first response when the Nats got him.  For ONCE the media actually got somehthing right!

Who knew it could happen?!?!?

The Rangers not letting the Nats directly contact Soriano is not that big of a deal. There's plenty of ways around that, like having a former teammate who's now on the Nats give him a call, or call Soriano's agent to discuss what, hypothetically, an all-star second basemen would think about possibly moving positions. Still, his strong preference not to move from second is well documented over the years. Likewise, the fact that Vidro, a good second basemen who would be wasted elsewhere, is on the Nats roster has been well documented for some time as well. Now, both Bowden and Soriano are pulling the "I didn't see this coming" act, which is also moronic.

[austro]

Maybe Soriano watched the Biggio-to-LF experiment and decided that no matter how much shit he was going to take for not switching positions, he would take even more if he actually went out to LF.

(N.B. Please make sure all sarc-meters have recently been calibrated.)

[JimR]

DISCUSS a position change? bullshit. you put the lineup card on the wall.

[BudGirl]

 Brushback article

[Alkie]

Hey, I have a crazy idea!  Let's cut him for good under the understanding that no other team would sign him either.  THEN, make him go back to the Dominican and see what kind of lifestyle he has there without a fucking job.  

Send pictures.  Please.

Fucking pussy.  Get to work.

[Arky Vaughan]

Quote:
The most homers ever by a second baseman is truly one of the great records in sports.

Hell, it pretty much got Sandberg in the HoF. Don't know about Kent...

There were more reasons than this that Sandberg got into the Hall of Fame.

[MusicMan]

Quote:

Quote:

Exactly. It seems like neither team nor player are acting professionally in this case. The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

While I understand how Bowden can be a tool for making the deal, I'm reading WAY more support for Soriano in this deal than I thought possible.  Not that you've suggested this, but I cannot begin to fathom how people are actually defending Soriano as having somehow taken the high road in this mess.

I'll just reiterate that I think Soriano is a complete ass for not taking the field.  This does not change the fact that Bowden made an iffy trade even if Soriano was doing backflips to play LF.  The fact that he only wanted to play 2b, where one of the Nats' best players resides, is just another case of Bowden being Bowden.

[Bench]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Exactly. It seems like neither team nor player are acting professionally in this case. The fact that Bowden never discussed a position change before the deal was made is moronic. Especially when Soriano already put up a stink about not leaving second when he was on the Rangers.

While I understand how Bowden can be a tool for making the deal, I'm reading WAY more support for Soriano in this deal than I thought possible.  Not that you've suggested this, but I cannot begin to fathom how people are actually defending Soriano as having somehow taken the high road in this mess.

I'll just reiterate that I think Soriano is a complete ass for not taking the field.  This does not change the fact that Bowden made an iffy trade even if Soriano was doing backflips to play LF.  The fact that he only wanted to play 2b, where one of the Nats' best players resides, is just another case of Bowden being Bowden.

That's exactly my sentiment. Soriano is an idiot to make a big stink of this. For one thing, he's not a good second basemen. Secondly, if he dutifully, not even cheerfully, went along with the Nats, he'd be a free agent next year. Being a petulant ass only hampers his value to a new team. So yes, he's selfish, dimwitted, not the most fiscally bright guy. The obvious contrast to the all-star second basemen not wanting to move to the outfielder is the all-star, future HOF, gold-glove winning second basemen who cheerfully moved to CF.

The point is that we have to deal with assholes all the time. Even if you're not an asshole, it doesn't mean you should never plan around a situation when you can obviously see it coming. Bowden should have handled things differently, or never gotten into the mess in the first place. It's just stupid for him to smack his head and wonder how this all happened.

[Andyzipp]

Quote:
The obvious contrast to the all-star second basemen not wanting to move to the outfielder is the all-star, future HOF, gold-glove winning second basemen who cheerfully moved to CF.  

If you're talking about Biggio, there was nothing cheerful about his move to CF, and he bitched to no end *inside the organization*.

However, he moved, and too his credit didn't act like a pussy about it.

[Bench]

Quote:

Quote:
The obvious contrast to the all-star second basemen not wanting to move to the outfielder is the all-star, future HOF, gold-glove winning second basemen who cheerfully moved to CF.  

If you're talking about Biggio, there was nothing cheerful about his move to CF, and he bitched to no end *inside the organization*.

However, he moved, and too his credit didn't act like a pussy about it.

You're right. Perhaps dutiful is more appropriate than cheerful. The contrast nevertheless remains stark.

[HurricaneDavid]

Quote:
For one thing, he's not a good second basemen.

He's tied for the worst career fielding percentage at second base in the last 50 years (.971).

The Link

Apparently, now he WILL play in LF.  Sanity may have prevailed, at least temporarily.

The Link

[Ty in Tampa]

Castillo said that Soriano had talked over the situation with his family and decided to accept a move to left field.

Is there any doubt as to how this conversation went?