Nationals Snag Soriano, Will Remain At 2B

Soriano's Home/Away splits in 2005

Home: .315/.355/.656, 25 HR and 73 RBI in 311 AB
Away: .224/.265/.374, 11 HR and 31 RBI in 326 AB

Ameriquest's park factor was 104 in 2005. RFK's was 93. Good luck Alphonso, you could potentially be this years version of Christian Guzman!

Ok, not that bad, but damn, did Bowden even look at his home/away splits?

Bowden is a menace. Worst. GM. Out there. What an awful trade for the Nats. And they're picking up all of Fonzie's salary, too!

I kind of feel bad for Bowden. All these other GM's get 2, 3, even 4 year deals, he gets a 6 month deal with the assurance of "When the team is sold, youre probably out on your ass, now go make the team better". You know that all moves have to be approved by.....Major League Baseball, and that you are pretty limited in what you can do.

Im sure he thought Castilla and Guzman were a good idea last year. Im sure he thinks Soriano was a good idea this year. Maybe he is just desperate. I know he certainly isnt helping his cause for a future job though.

Soriano is a butcher when it comes to defense. Honestly, I have seen rookie ballers look more solid at 2B than than him. However, offensivley, he is a great asset to any team. Don't believe me, let me rattle off some offensive comparisons between Soriano and the rest of the league's secondbasemen:

Average:

Soriano: Lifetime .280 average, last year .268 Avg.

League: 2B have posted an average around .254 in the past 30 years of baseball. Last season Soriano ranked 19th among 2B who had 400+ ABs with a .268 Avg. Not a stellar ranking, but it was Soriano's worst mark since 2001.

Homeruns and Slugging:

Soriano: Led league 2B in HRs with 36. The next closest was Jeff Kent with 29. His SLG% was tied for 5th at .512
League: 2B who had 400+ ABS averaged 15.326 HRs last season. That means Soriano has more than double the average pop of his companions.

Stolen Bases:

Soriano: Led 2B with 30 SBs last season and has had 4 seasons of 30 or more. Not to mention his eye popping 93.8% SBP last season.
League: Brian Roberts and Craig Counsell were the only other 2B who had more than 20 steals last season. The next highest is Adam Kennedy with 19. 2B with 400+ ABs averaged 10.61 SBs with a SBP of 71.484%. Soriano not only stole 3 times as many bags as the average 2B he was successful greater than 20% more often.

RBIs:

Soriano: Drove in 104 RBIs last season.
League: Soriano was 4th in RBIs among league 2B. Middle infielders with 500+ ABs averaged only 79 RBIs.

Hmm, a guy who out slugs, out steals, drives in more runs than 90% of his fellow second baseman and ranked among the top 10 in most offensive categories for 2B the last 3 seasons. Need I state my conclusion on his value?

Considering he's moving to RFK and potentially out of second base altogether, the home/road splits are far more important.

Hate to stray off topic, but I feel it is my duty as one of the few Phils fans amongst all the Cubs supporters here to pass along an Abreu rumor hot off the presses. The deal is with Oakland and it involves Abreu, C Mike Lieberthal, and SP Gavin Floyd going to the A's in return for SP Barry Zito and C Jason Kendall.

As a Phils fan, I don't like it. It's just a rumor anyway (actually I found this in a story at the very gossipy athletics.com - they seem to put more rumors than most on the team website including the Milton Bradley trade that fell apart) so believe it or don't. I just this would be the perfect spot for an MLB trade rumor. Smart, huh?

Anyway, back to the Soriano bashing and wondering how Texas managed to deal him without getting any ML ready pitching at all.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Wilkerson will be sent to the Jays, likely for Orlando Hudson and a pitcher. O-Dog fills in the 2nd base vacancy for the Rangers.

Here's a Toronto Star article that mentions what mooser was talking about.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133995815816&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064

It would be a shame, in that the Rangers have Ian Kinsler ready to play second right now. That's why I'm a bit skeptical.

Bowden is a wild GM. He likes to land the big names and it doesn't matter what it takes to get them. I thought it was funny how he got a 6 month deal to remain GM, you hardly ever hear of those.