MLB's Soriano Hung Out to Dry By Nationals
How often does it happen that a present Major League Baseball All-Star player gets treated with so little respect that he is told after his trade to another team that he will have to give up his starting position or else? After all, baseball has come a long way since free agency, forming its players’ association, gaining arbitration for its players, and providing them access to high-powered agents nearly guaranteeing them a shot at multi-million dollar contracts. But this latest faux pas on the part of Major League Baseball ownership concerns 2nd baseman Alfonso Soriano, formerly of the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees, who has spent the entirety of his major league career playing 2nd base. He has been known, however, for his offense over the past five years which included his first three years, 2001- 2003, with the New York Yankees and his last two years, 2004 and 2005, with the Texas Rangers. Yet, before all of the so-called expert pundits and baseballs’ fans have at it with their generalizations about the latest supposed “spoiled professional athlete who should grow up,” it would be wise to examine exactly which athlete they are attacking and the circumstances involved. Unfortunately, it is athletes such as the NFL’s Terrell Owens who have now given all professional athletes a bad name. The dilemma which has become the talk of the day and should play itself out by week’s end, or around March 24, 2006, involves the controversial trade of Soriano from the Texas Rangers to the Washington Nationals on December 7, 2005, which became official on December 13, 2005. The Washington Nationals’ General Manager, Jim Bowden, was looking to get some pop in the Nats’ lineup and offered to trade outfielder, Brad Wilkerson, outfielder Termel Sledge and minor league pitching prospect, Armando Galarraga to the Rangers. Prior to the trade, in all fairness to Bowden, he claims that before the Nationals signed off on the deal, he requested the Rangers’ permission to speak to Soriano first, to specifically ask him if he would agree to change his 2nd base position to leftfield. The Rangers said no, supposedly pending players’ physicals, and precisely because they knew of Soriano’s history of not wanting to change positions in the past and did not want to kill the deal. According to Bowden, “We took it [to mean that] if we talked to the player [the Rangers felt] that the player would say no [to changing positions] and the deal would be killed.” Soriano was never consulted about being traded either for that matter. When Soriano originally signed his first Major League Baseball contract, with the New York Yankees in 2001, he was a shortstop, which he considered his natural position. Obviously, with shortstop, Derek Jeter, at that position, the Yankees were forced to find another position for him as he showed so much promise with his bat. When he filled in briefly at shortstop for a few weeks during Spring Training in the 2001 season when Jeter was nursing an injury, he proved to the Yankees that they had to have him in the lineup everyday. And when Jeter returned that spring, Soriano was moved to left field, albeit for a total of only five games. Soriano was expected to start the season there, but when 2nd baseman, Chuck Knoblauch, developed a mental block with the inability to throw to 1st base, the Yankees switched the two players’ positions. Since that time, Soriano has never played any other position but 2nd base and has never played a regular season major league game in the outfield. But upon arriving in Texas in 2004, when Soriano was traded by the Yankees for Alex Rodriguez, Rangers’ manager, Buck Showalter, had another rising star in Michael Young, also a 2nd baseman, who needed to be added to the lineup. Unlike Bowden’s approach, however, Showalter felt out the situation with Soriano changing positions. “We just talked about trying to make some plans and asked him how he felt about it. It wasn’t something we were trying to cram down his throat.” And Michael Young helped resolve the situation by volunteering to move to shortstop, as Soriano was adamant about not moving from 2nd base. Given Soriano’s known history of relishing his position at 2nd base in spite of steeped criticism of his defense, it makes Jim Bowden’s deal for him seem ill fated from the onset, as it was well known throughout MLB of Soriano’s reticence to change positions. And in the case of Soriano, Yogi Berra’s philosophy could not hold more true as “Baseball is 90% mental, the other 50% is physical.” Given Soriano’s being so upset with the situation is enough to distract his offense, let alone learning a whole knew position as the season progresses. But one would think that given his stellar offensive skills and his good attitude would have earned him some brownie points to not have been put in this position in the first place. A four-time All-Star from 2002-2005 and the MVP of the 2004 All-Star Game, Soriano has earned his notoriety and the $10 million he will earn this year, due to his record-high arbitration case. Although considered a defensive liability, Soriano’s offensive stats are more than impressive. They include his breakout season in 2002 when he had 209 hits, 128 runs scored, 39 home runs, 102 RBI, 41 stolen bases, 51 doubles, a .332 batting average and 198 hits. In 2003, Soriano followed up with very comparable stats with a .338 batting average, 35 stolen bases, 38 home runs, 114 runs scored, 198 hits and 91 RBI. In 2004 when he was with his new team, the Rangers, his offense dipped slightly but he finished with a respectable .324 batting average with 91 RBI and 170 hits. And in 2005, his batting average dropped off markedly to .268 but he still scored 102 runs, had 171 hits, 43 doubles, 36 home runs, 30 stolen bases and 104 RBI. Only time will tell how the grand expanse of RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. and adjusting to the National League will impact his offensive skills. Following the no-show of Soriano for the Nationals’ Spring Training game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 20th, when he was written in the lineup by manager, Frank Robinson, to play leftfield, he will have another opportunity to redeem himself by showing up for the March 22nd game which the Nationals have against the St. Louis Cardinals in another pre-season matchup. It has been promised that the lineup card will remain the same according to Robinson. Should Soriano maintain his refusal to play leftfield and thus refuse to play, according to Bowden, the Nationals will petition MLB’s Commissioner’s Office to place Soriano on the rarely used “disqualified list.” This additionally presents Commissioner Selig with a new twist to the problem, in that MLB officially still owns the Nationals, as Selig has failed as of yet to get a deal done for new ownership. Becoming “disqualified” translates into Soriano losing his salary for 2006, losing any credit for 2006 service time and his chance to become a free agent at the end of the season would also be lost as he would remain the property of the Nationals. Since Soriano chose to participate in the March 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the Dominican Republic team, should he decide to play leftfield, he now has less than two weeks in which to learn a non-infield position he has never officially played. Bowden claims that during Soriano’s time away during the WBC he tried to work a deal to trade Soriano if the right offer came along. “We obviously will field offers, but we’re not going to give the player away, Bowden said on March 20th. “If we can make a deal that makes sense, we would have. At this point we have not been given a trade proposal that makes any sense for the Nationals, he said. Besides putting his manager, Frank Robinson, in an uncomfortable position, and giving Soriano an ultimatum of playing leftfield after the trade was completed, leaves the actions of Bowden questionable. Combined with the fact that the Nationals already had an All-Star 2nd baseman in Jose Vidro, and Bowden’s admission that he had heard of Soriano’s prior insistence on playing 2nd base prior to the deal with the Rangers, could put his own job in jeopardy when new ownership is finally decided. After all, the deal for Soriano was misguided at best and Bowden’s theory that he alone could convince Soriano to change positions was foolhardy. It begs the question, excuses aside, which Soriano himself asked of Bowden, “Why didn’t you try to talk to me before you made the trade?”
Other Baseball Betting Articles
Benefits of Poker Games Online As poker increases in popularity, people look for easier and more convenient way to access this sport. Playing poker games online is becoming popular for almost all poker enthusiasts because of the benefits and advantages that they are able to offer to the players. No matter what skill level an individual possesses, there are a number of reaso ...3 Free Basketball Picks - 1/22/06 Free Basketball Pick #1 Warriors @ Clippers: Both teams have been sliding lately and have the chance to knock each other off a few games with this back-to-back. The keys to the game here will be the duos on each team. Neither is that deep, so they need Kaman and Brand or Davis and Richardson to have big games. If Kaman gets in foul ...What You Need To Know About Casinos In earlier times, casinos referred to a small villa or outhouse built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo. These were built specifically to house entertaining activities. Since the 19th century, the meaning of the word casino changed completely. Casinos then included public buildings where leisure activities such as gambling and ...Cheap Baseball Tickets A multitude of online ticket brokers on the Internet offer affordable tickets to all the major MLB and NCAA baseball games. You can sometimes buy cheap baseball tickets from "scalpers" who need to unload their leftover tickets outside the stadium, but this is often an illegal practice in most places, and your chances of getting a good deal are s ...Purchasing Baseball Tickets Baseball is one of the most popular team sports in the United States. Baseball tickets are purchased to the tune of billions of dollars every year. Compared with other sports' tickets, baseball tickets are more costly.There are various ways to purchase baseball tickets. You can buy them well in advance or just before the game starts. Adva ...Softball Bat: What Is The Right Bat For You? You can see them all around the Softball park, swinging their bats, hitting at imaginary targets and sometimes practicing at objects, improving their strength all the time. The force behind the swing of the batters can be tremendous. The truth is, it is not the strength behind the swing that only matters. It is also the kind of bat one uses. ...Information on the US Open The US Open will be going high tech this year. The annual tennis tournament, now in its 125th year, will be the first Grand Slam to introduce the electronic line calling technology and player challenge system during its opening game. Its benefits will include improving officiating for players, by adding instant replay technology and player cha ...Casino Card Games There are three types of casino card games -- Poker, Black Jack and Baccarat. These games are played in almost every casino around the world. Though, some people play for leisure, there are those who gamble and bet. There are different types of Poker, Black Jack, and Baccarat. The card games played in casinos usually involve a lot of money on be ...Baseball and the Game of Life Baseball and life have a lot of similarities. I know what you are thinking, yea right, it's simply a game involving a bat and a ball. What can that possibly teach us? I am here to tell you what it can teach you. Not only baseball, but other sports as well.Growing up I couldn't see the similarities with baseball and life. I simply knew tha ...Is Gambling Truly a Disorder? The American Psychiatric Association, America’s experts on disorders identified gambling as an official disorder of impulse control. Their studies have shown that gambling corresponds with mental illnesses of uncontrollable desire. Gamblers with this illness are restless and impulsive and are “adrenaline junkies”, constantly seeking something ne ...Tilt and Other Poker Terms There are some poker terms often used by pundits, in articles and by players at the table which you may find helpful to learn. Here they are, tilt and all!BIG BLIND The largest of the two required (called “forced”) bets, twice the size of the posted “small” blind.BOARD Area where five “community” cards are placed for all players to ...Selecting an Online Casino When you are trying to decide which online casino to go with your decision is based partly on personal preferences and on a large amount of research into the numerous online casinos. The following article will show you some of the things to look for when selecting an online casino.One of the biggest things to look for on a website is the ...Celebrities - Most Popular Baseball Players If you notice this is about the most popular baseball players of all time, not necessarily the greatest. Unfortunately, sometimes being popular doesn't mean you're good. In the case of baseball players, some of the most popular are simply there because of things they've done off the field that haven't exactly made the game a better one. ...Baseball in Japan In recent years, the arrival in the United States of players like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui has enlightened Americans about the popularity of the sport in Japan. But most Americans don't know that Japan has almost as long a baseball history as the United States.The exact date that baseball was introduced in Japan is not known, but i ...MIT Blackjack Team & a Huge Profit In any casino, the only game where the player can have and take advantage of the odds, is blackjack and the MIT blackjack team did just that with stunning results.MIT blackjack team & Beating the dealerIn the early 1960s when a university professor named Edward Thorp wrote his famous book ‘Beat the Dealer’ which featured a computer ...Winning at Caribbean Stud Poker - Made Easy! In truth, Caribbean poker is not poker at all, but a casino game based on poker. You play against the casino, as in blackjack, not other players. As you could expect, the odds favor the casino not the player, but you can tilt them in your favor my some clever strategyPlaying Caribbean Stud Poker.To begin you ante and you and the de ...MLB Exhibition Baseball Betting So it’s the start of MLB exhibition season and you are all excited, because the season opener is a few weeks away. How exactly do you bet on MLB exhibition anyway? A closer look at MLB exhibition baseball betting reveals how much of a coin toss it really is. Let’s look at some of the fundamentals affecting exhibition games you might want to ...Five Things Anybody Interested In Sports Betting Must Know About The NFL If you're even slightly interested in Sports Betting you probably already know the NFL is always full of surprises. That's because it's hard to predict which players are going to unexpectedly make an impact, and which players are going to unexpectedly lose some of their effectiveness. 1. The New ...Casino Sportsbook With the continuing growth in the popularity of sport betting many people are looking for a good casino sportsbook where they can do their betting. There are many to choose from but if you want to find the best casino sportsbook you need to know what to look for. Probably the most important factor is the reputation of the casino sportsbook. ...Those Lucky White Sox: Kenny Williams Is One Of The Few Grown-Ups In Baseball! Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams is reportedly grumpy, utterly focused, unhappy, and always paranoid.Games, with their seesaw suspense, are just too much for this guy, who prefers to turn away from them.In a phrase, he’s my kind of guy.This isn’t some Moneyball statistics nerd, but someone who eats, sleeps, a ...Baseball-Coaching the Youth of Tomorrow Coaching our youth is a delicate practice that needs to be taken with the kids self confidence at the heart of the teaching. These days, parents and coaches alike want to win so bad, they put undue stress on the kids that can have a negative effect.We over criticize when we are talking to them instead of building up their self confidence. ...Understanding Point Spreads The two main sports that use point spreads are football and basketball. Since the two teams playing each other are rarely evenly matched, the point spread comes into play. The point spread helps balance the chances of a team winning through the adjustment of the final score with the point spread.A typical point spread reads: Team A -7 vs. ...
|
