February 25, 2006
Soriano and Vidro
The Washington Post chronicles the two players in camp together:
The theoretically awkward issue of Alfonso Soriano's presence in the Washington Nationals' spring training camp alongside veteran Jose Vidro, the Nationals' incumbent second baseman, became a practical one Friday. In the first full-squad workout of the spring, Vidro took grounders and performed drills with the rest of the starting infielders, while Soriano worked out with an infield group made up of mostly minor leaguers. Later, in the clubhouse, they sat three lockers apart, eating their lunches without interacting.
One solution that no one talks about is moving Soriano to shortstop. Yes, he'll likely be the worst defensive shortstop in the league. The Nationals can live with that. Neither Guzman nor Clayton is any great shakes at short, how much worse can Soriano do? He'll hit a lot better than either of those two players. The other advantage is, if he's moved to short, it will be seen as a defensive promotion, while the move to left is clearly a defensive demotion.
Soriano created 93 runs last year. Clayton created 55, Guzman 26. At worst, Soriano is going to be 10 runs worse that those two at shortstop. It's not a great solution, but it's one that probably improves the team overall.
Posted by David Pinto at
07:26 PM
|
Defense
|
TrackBack (0)
Moving Soriano to short makes some sense, but the prospect of having a bad second baseman playing short for your team is pretty scary.
Offensively this idea makes sense. However, I wouldn't want to be a ground ball pitcher on that team.
He was a shortstop at one point in the minors.
What is Soriano doing in DC? Seriously, does anyone have a clue about this? David, why? To me, this is exhibit 1A in the "Jim Bowden is a moron" museum. That trade was not only the worst of the offseason, but I think it may well be the worst trade I can remember offhand. However, keep in mind my memory is terrible.
Matty, that's a very good question. Maybe Selig decided it's time for the Rangers to make the World Series, since they've never been there. :-)
I am not sure what the Nats are doing at all. First they sign Guzman, who can't play, to a long term expensive contract, trade for Soriano, who can't play either and doesn't have a position, then trade for a guy (lawrence) who gets worse every year (playing in a apitchers park) who gets hurt his first day on the mound (not Bowden's fault) while getting rid of possibly useful players like Wilkerson (who will have a good year in 2006, mark my words) and Loaiza. I just don't get it. This is what happens when your team doesn't have an owner or a staduium or a future. Ugh. Hope you Nats fans enjoy Ramon Ortiz and Jon Rauch as your #4 and 5 starters. Just sell the team to someone who cares and be done with it!
I like that idea. The resulting gag reel would be classic.
this is a train wreck. Being in one of the Best Divisions this team could lose 100+ games even with a horse pitcher like Hernandez. I just wonder when they will trade him to good team.
Would moving Zimmerman to SS and Soriano to 3B be any worse? Zimmerman's made a bunch of errors at short in a very small pro sample size, but could he be worse than Soriano?
Zimmerman would be better at short than Soriano (hell, Don Knotts would be a better shortstop than Soriano), but Zimmerman will be an elite, gold-glove caliber third baseman. You don't move one of those to shortstop. Soriano's best position is probably left field, but his bat isn't good enough for him to play there everyday, and he can't field enough to be a starting infielder. And he's getting paid ten million bucks, so you have to play him. Sucks to be Frank Robinson right now, doesn't it?