Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Marmol have cleared trade waivers, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Soriano is now eligible to be traded anywhere, pending his approval due to his ten-and-five rights.
Soriano, 36, is hitting .264/.319/.490 with 21 homers on the season, and he's still owed approximately $45MM through the end of the 2014 season. Heyman hears that Chicago was willing to pay all but $3MM annually of his contract. He told the Cubs he would not accept a trade to the Giants before the deadline, though Heyman speculates they could get involved again following the news of Melky Cabrera's 50-game suspension.
Earlier this month, nearly 9,000 MLBTR readers said they believe the Cubs will be able to trade Soriano this month. The 29-year-old Marmol has pitched to a 4.46 ERA in 36 1/3 innings this season. He is owed approximately $12MM through the end of the next season.
Giants?!
….did I hear somewhere say the Giants were interested? Ya Think?
Because the Giants would want a defensive liability playing Left Field when its already a difficult Outfield to play in?
On the bright side, he doesn’t have any errors this year at least.
Soriano is one of 4 MLB outfielders this year without an error.
He might not be a future Gold Glover, but he’s doing just about everything you can ask of him defensively this year.
He has no errors because he doesn’t reach any baseballs hit his way……
Soriano’s defense this year reminds me a lot of Ryne Sandburg. He wouldn’t take chances on plays that were borderline. In other words he wouldn’t go diving for a ball because it might get recorded as an error.
I agree. As much as I liked Sandberg, it was always frustrating that he wouldn’t dive for a ball.
Except Soriano has very good range. He makes a lot of tough plays. His defense has gotten a bad rap solely because of his errors, which hasn’t been a problem this year.
In other words, you have no clue what you’re talking about.
In actual words, I don’t really care about the cubs or their stats. Try again.
Yup, Soriano got his rep as a bad defender because of errors. Essentially, he kept positioning himself like he was a guy with 30SB legs well after his legs had given out, and it caused some embarrassing misplays. This year, he finally adjusted his positioning and both scouts and UZR say the results are that he’s gone from bad to kinda good.
UZR/150 is 21.3.
IIRC, Barry Bonds in his 40’s had VERY few errors. That was because he always rounded the ball, played smart defense, but his arm wasn’t strong (So he rarely contested a play, which means no throwing errors) and he had the worst range in baseball. Errors are a pretty bad measurement of defense, especially in a corner outfield spot.
Well, darn, there goes my pipe dream of him being claimed.
Al is staying in Chi town. Wont get traded till the off season if at all.
As a Giants fan: No!
His swing, his attitude, his terrible defense is not a fit for SF. I can only hope Brian Sabean isn’t dumb as a brick in wanting to pick him up. Send him to the AL so he can be a DH.
Soriano plays excellent defense.
UZR/150 is 21.3.
What kind of numbers do the Giants’ OFs have?
Attitude? You don’t like hard working guys who are great team mates? It’s not Soriano’s fault his legs decided to revolt against him.
Soriano’s ‘attitude’ is overblown. He gets a bad wrap because he doesn’t talk to english media unless he has to because of his poor english (not meant as a put down). To my knowledge nobody who’s played with him has complained about him and the idea that a player with no-trade rights wouldn’t be eager to uproot his family isn’t all that selfish when you think about it.
Agreed, People get kind of lazy with applying the lazy & overpaid tag. Soriano is overpaid, and occasionally a space cadet in the field, but no one who has played with him has ever said anything less than glowing about him and he’s never made waves with the media or ownership.
If I’m Dan Duquette, I’m making this trade to get the O’s over the hump and solve the LF/DH situation. Dump one of the underperforming young pitchers we have and move on. With Nolan Reimold out for the rest of the year, this trade would take us through next season with Reimold and Soriano sharing the LF/DH role, allowing Chris Davis to play first, Manny Machado at third and allowing us to dump Mark Reynolds. We should also re-sign Jim Thome on a one-year deal for 2013 in a bench role.
Interesting Fact of the Day.
Alfonso Soriano is the only player from the Cubs default lineup in MLB 10 The Show who remains with the team to this very day. Names like Aramis Ramirez, Marlon Byrd, Derrek Lee, and Geovanny Soto are all gone and pretty much after thoughts. A big testament to the Cubs Front Office. Job well done.The Cubs get a lot of hate for being a bad team this year, but their rebuild is in process and soon they will have a ridiculously good core around Castro, Rizzo, Soler, and others.
Giants need Pence and Belt to step up more than they need Soriano. Francisco Peguero should be called up. Wouldve been Roger Keishnick if he didn’t get hurt.
Peguero has a .297 OBP in AAA, like we need anymore guys with low OBPs. Both Pence and Belt just came off a 3-4 performances in the Giant’s win yesterday, and both seem to be heating up as of late. I do not want Soriano at all. Poor attitude, low OBP, and terrible defensively. He’s with no question past his prime and I doubt he’ll fare well in AT&T park. I would rather see them either promote Brown, or acquire someone under the radar (ala Cody Ross back in 2010, despite it being more of a block than an actual trade target).
Contrary to popular belief, Soriano is a superb defensive OF. IDK where the bad attitude comment is coming from, and Soriano’s bat has certainly still got some pop. I’d say he’s a perfect LF fit.
Superb defense? haha
UZR – 14.1
UZR/150 – 21
Take that ‘haha’ and use it for Melky’s roids.
LOL at stat boys! Cubs played at ATT earlier this season and Soriano was HORRIBLE in the field. I believe my eyes! not your stats!
You do realize that when the Cubs were at AT&T earlier this season that Soriano had an issue with knee soreness? That’s why he could hardly run out there.
Then there is not point in having any sensible debate with you.
Defensive metrics are very unreliable. Last year Carlos Lee got about 1.5 WAR from defense, and you know how bad he is at fielding.
Well while he doesn’t have any errors this year, he has limited range in the outfield and doesn’t have the speed he used to in his prime. He doesn’t hustle when on the base paths nor defensively, and he’s admitted to not wanting to play for SF. He has pop, no question, and him being a right handed hitter would at least fare better at AT&T, but with the cold winds out in SF, the ball doesn’t carry as much as it would in Chicago. Not to mention the albatross contract he is still under. He’s owed 32 million over 2013-14, and either the Giants would have to eat his salary (which is the last thing the Giants need given their payroll), or if the Cubs were to pay for him, we would have to give up some value in terms of prospects which I don’t think would be worth the Giants’ time. He’s 35 now, and if he’s just having a career year in terms of power, then we’re be stuck with him for the next two years while blocking an outfield spot for either a prospect or a more productive player who we could get on the market for less and be just as productive as Soriano. As a Giant’s fan, no thanks.
Edit – wrong reply
The rest may be true, but his range is excellent as well (14.1 UZR).
“Well while he doesn’t have any errors this year, he has limited range in the outfield and doesn’t have the speed he used to in his prime.”
He has lost a step, but his UZR/150 this season is 21.3. Cabrera, Pagan, and Pence combine for a negative UZR.
“He doesn’t hustle when on the base paths nor defensively”
As a Cubs’ fan who has watched most of the games this season, you’re completely wrong. He was slower earlier in the season because his knee was sore, but now he’s hustling any chance he gets. I saw him turn a double into a triple right in front of Matt Holliday in LF. He isn’t very lazy anymore.
Brown isn’t ready and not the time to start his arbitration clock. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of bats out there now 🙁
the A’s need to trade for marmol what is the cubs asking price for him
Probably not much, relievers don’t have much value in a trade, especially Marmol.
I can’t imagine the A’s would need him.
they do to many young guys need another vet with balfour cook has struggled in the closer role so has balfour they are better setup guys
relievers honestly don’t have much trade value, especially ones that have struggled in a season. They’re pretty much the most expendable guys on any team and most minor league starters can put up average numbers in a relief role.
the guys you mentioned (balfour and cook) have had pretty much the same seasons Marmol has, so he’d really add nothing the A’s don’t already have.
I also don’t think i’d put much value on Marmol’s ‘veteran presence’, since he’s only been a big leaguer for a few seasons.
maybe a change of teams would help him marmol has been good beside his struggles this year also pitching in oakland might help him out has well marmol has more experience in the closer roll that is the main reason i think he would be a good pick up for the A’s but i understand what you are saying has well
a change of scenery/pitching coaches could very well be good for Marmol, though with his funky delivery and pitching arsenal it’s hard not to think what you see is what you get.
$45 mm and $12 mm. These cats make a lot of scratch. Rough sledding for us Cub fans this season but the future looks bright.
If the price was right I would take Marmol he has a year of control and could be useful if he finds his control.
Marmol and control in the same sentence? Never
Doesn’t hustle? You obviously haven’t been paying close attention to his at-bats if you believe he isn’t hustling. He’s working extremely hard, despite his bad legs, and he’s a positive influence in the clubhouse. The contract is the only reason he has such limited interest.
So, essentially what we’re looking for is a team willing to take Alfonso Soriano on a 3-Year $9 Million deal. Honestly that doesn’t sound like the worst fate on the planet.
I wouldn’t give a dollar for both. They belong at a Walmart.
I would like the angels to take a shot on marmol, idk how bad he has been this year…his numbers are pretty bad but he cant be as bad as takahashi, carpenter or hawkings have been so far…
Think Kevin Gregg that throws 96-98, rather than 94-95, no other difference and neither should be anywhere near a game in the 9thIP, yet both were closers for many seasons.
You want to see a guy come in and walk the bases loaded? Marmol and gregg are your guys, get paid 2-3x more than they should be to pitch (for most teams) the 6-7th inning? Then Marmol and Gregg are the guys. Forget them both, they have lousy control and you can’t come close to counting on which person (decent or extremely wild) will ever emerge from the ‘pen.