Alfonso Soriano Stays Put

it was entirely wrong. bowden should be fired for this

Worst. Decision. Ever.

Oh man, what a blunder for JimBo. I can't wait to see how he trys to spin missing out on two A-level prospects in Ervin Santana and Erick Aybar for chance to overpay Soriano and cripple the franchise's development. He'd better start praying to the baseball gods that those two first round draft picks he has coming pan out.

Those guys were offered for Tejada, not Soriano. But your point is still correct.

Man, they should've traded him

Sorry wood...

Bowden's job is as safe as it gets after the fleecing of Cincy for Kearns and Lopez

Bowden could have had Baker and Kubel, or Slowey and Perkins, or maybe even Baker and Kubel and Perkins. Instead he stood pat, hoping that Terry Ryan -- Terry Ryan! -- was going to part with his top pitching prospect, who will almost certainly be in the Twins rotation by the end of the year.

I can't believe it. What a deeply boneheaded move.

Bowden is on crack. He sucks as a GM. Another point I will probably make later if I find out my team has let the rival team steal the division, I am pissed. The Red Sox NEED to make a move but have yet to do so.

I understand the High demands up until the 11th hour, but at some point you have to realize something is better than nothing and at the end of the year that's what they will end up with, NOTHING. I know the Astros made offers that weren't all that bad considering Soriano is a half year rental, and they didn't even make the best offer. Just like most the folks in Washington, The Nat's are moron's

It is possible that Sori is being honest about wanting to stay there... maybe there's been alot done on an extension??
if that's the case I can see holding out for a King's ransom

ozzie, why would soriano want to stay in washington?

he just wanted to suck up by saying that.

he will sign with someone like the dodgers, angels, or cubs in the offseason

Wood...

So you know Sori personally then?
Otherwise you're just guessing like I am

of course i am. and every rumor or supposed leak is just guessing as well.

So you have no way of knowing if Sori is honest or not...
So time will tell.

An extremely stupid move...Bowden obviously thought he was the shit after the Kearns/Lopez deal, and it was a nice steal and all, but he was asking for way too much.

Now, I live in the Washington D. C. area, watch every game, and honestly, there is no way in hell Soriano stays. There is nothing in the minors for this team, and very little talent in the majors other than Zimmerman, Lopez, Kearns, and Johnson..
Also, the Nationals pitching staff absolutely blows, with the exception of John Patterson and Chad Cordero, so they're not going to contend for quite some time..

Now do you honestly think Soriano wants to stay in this rebuilding stage for 2,3,4, years or jump ship to somebody like the Mets or another big-market team and instantly contend while probably making more money and playing 2nd base.

Bowden really screwed himself and the Nationals organization today. He really could have gotten a great package for Soriano.

There are only two reasons why this would make sense:

1) Bowden thinks that 2 draft picks in 2007 are better than what he was offered.

2) They really will resign him.

Then again, a waiver trade at least possible.

Yeah, this appears to be another Bowden classic. In my opinion, he is the hands-down worst GM in baseball. There is no way that the Nationals have the loot to sign Soriano to a long term contract, and, as has been said by a couple of people on this thread, the Nationals could have gotten a good package in return for him. The Washington farm system is weak, and they don't have the money to contend with big market teams. I'm sure Soriano is really sincere about wanting to stay in Washington -until he finds out he'll make nowhere near the $13MM+ that he'll make on the open market. Another extremely boneheaded move by Bowden.

to anyone that thinks Bowden is so horrible,

Here's 3 pieces of evidence as to why he's not the worst

1) Wayne Krivsky
2) Jim Hendry
3) Ned Colleti

Oh and don't forget the new ownership has deep pockets!

jondogg, hope for a waiver wire steal like Myers was.

"to anyone that thinks Bowden is so horrible,

Here's 3 pieces of evidence as to why he's not the worst

1) Wayne Krivsky"

Yeah, he's only changed a team that was supposed to be the worst in the league to the Wild Card leader. HE'S TERRIBLE.

Blue

Giving up Kearns and Lopez for a couple mediocre MRs and a piss poor SS is terrible to me

Yeah, well who else wanted Scott Hatteberg, Brandon Phillips, David Ross, and Eddie Guardado?

Sure, he overpaid for bullpen help when he traded Kearns and Lopez, but the team was in a tailspin going into the All-Star break. Since then, they are 10-5.

Also, look at Lopez's numbers this year, and compare them to his career numbers. He's gone back to his career averages, and is a poor defender on top of that. Just about everyone overvalues him because he was an All-Star in 2005.

He took over in January and built a playoff contender from scraps. A GM who takes a team predicted to finish last, to where this team is now without trading the farm (if the Reds actually had one) can't be that bad.

As a Nats fan seeing all players involved, I don't think the Nats-Reds trade was nearly the fleecing some have made it out to be. I agree with Blue on Lopez. Kearns is an also-ran OF which the Nats can't seem to get enough of.
The organization is a joke becuase up til a week ago, Kasten was saying we will rebuild from within - now suddenly he is willing to sign a 10+ $mil/yr player. I knew this would be a non-trade when they started with the damage control BS "we're going to try and re-sign him." Yeah sure, after they realized no one was going to give up 3 AAA prospects for a 2 month rental. Rather than trade him for what they can get and admit the trade to get Sori in the first place was a blunder, they ignore how they totally jerked him around when they bought him in, and spin this load of garbage that somehow Svengali Jose Rijo will convince Soriano to stay.

I still say holding onto Sori was the smart move. First off Bowden basically stole him from Tex. Wilkerson can't even hit in the hitter friendly Arlington. Galaraga is the only potentially decent player they gave up. So why turn that into crap?

Joe Sheehan just wrote a good piece on this. Keeping him is just bad even if all Bowden could've gotten is say, Kubel and Baker.

The chance of the Nats signing Soriano to an extension before he becomes a free agent is ZERO. If they retain him, they will be signing him as a free agent. They could have traded him for 2 low level prospects and had the exact same opportunity to re-sign him in November. Instead they got nothing.