Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 21, 2006
The Soriano Situation

Here's the full story on last night's standoff from Mark Zuckerman in the Washington Times.

Following batting practice, Soriano met with Robinson and Bowden and reiterated his position.

"Nothing is against his will," Robinson said before the game. "He doesn't have to go out there. I can't force him to go out there. The manager of a ballclub makes out the lineup, informs him he's in the lineup tonight and he's playing left field. ... For the ballclub's sake, for his sake, I hope he does. I hope he goes out to left field."

When the Nationals took the field in the top of the first, though, Soriano was nowhere to be found, so Robinson emerged from the dugout and approached plate umpire Mike Estabrook. Robinson informed Estabrook he was making a change and signaled for Brandon Watson to come off the bench and take over center field, with Ryan Church moving from center to fill the vacancy in left.

Robinson retreated to the dugout step, looked inside and put his hand on his hip, clearly frustrated.

"I've never had it happen before myself," Robinson said after the game. "I don't feel betrayed, though. That's his decision."

I'm not sure what Soriano's options are here. If I'm working for someone and I'm unhappy, I can quit and find another job. Alfonso's not in that position, unless he wants to leave baseball. He doesn't have enough time to be a free agent, so even if he retires for a year the Nationals would still control his rights, I believe. If Bowden can suspend Alfonso without pay, there's no real pressure to trade him.

Alfonso Soriano appears to have no leverage. At some point, his agent needs to sit down with the player, explain the value of $10 million dollars, explain that it's one year, and if he plays really well he'll get an even bigger free agent contract for 2007.

For the majority of us, a $10 million dollar salary means we're going to do pretty much anything the boss asks, as long as it's not illegal. Playing left field, with that in mind, seems to be a reasonable request.

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Posted by David Pinto at 08:06 AM | Baseball Jerks | TrackBack (0)
Comments

He has to cave. He can't win, losing time towards free agency and salary. And I think a fair amount of people would consider a variety of illegal activities for 10m.

Posted by: abe shorey at March 21, 2006 08:34 AM

I just think he looks cute in the uniform. He should play and not make it his "Glimpse of Hell"

Posted by: dan meyer at March 21, 2006 08:56 AM

What makes you think we wouldn't break the law for $10 million? You don't want to know what I'd do for that kind of money!

All kidding aside, I can't imagine that Soriano can draw a salary while refusing to do what he's asked.

Posted by: Joe at March 21, 2006 09:14 AM

I can't grasp Soriano's thinking. A 30/30 as an OF gets him more scratch than being the Butcher of 2B.

Nevermind the insubordination which will certainly cost him money on his next contract.

Posted by: Rotomusings at March 21, 2006 09:54 AM

For $10 mil I'd be happy to play left field for the Nats for a year. With some wise financial planning, even allowing for deductions for taxes, agent fees, etc. I could retire and live comfortable for the rest of my life. Plus, I probably would only strike out as much as Soriano -- but that's not saying much.

Posted by: rbj at March 21, 2006 09:56 AM

Could they trade him for Terrell Owens?

Posted by: tangotiger at March 21, 2006 10:08 AM

terrell owens? WOW

i didn't know he could hit a baseball!! how exciting!!!

but sori is making a serious foll of his fool self - you a 30 year old man throwing a temper tantrum that lasts for weeks nobody gonna respect you at all.

where's all the - i'm gonna take one for the team?

good thing we don't got anyone like soriano in my astros. we got chris burke, a ss/2b all his life playing LF, CF. and last year even mike lamb was happy to try LF even though he can't catch a cold out there and can't run for spit and he looked the complete fool. at least he TRIED.

even if soriano looked worse out in left than craig biggio did in 2004 (and that was BAD trust me on this) at least he would be given his props for trying. and here he is getting 10 mill, too - not like it's ruining his career.

i'm surprised that the media ain't all over his *** talking bout how he the worst kind of clubhouse cancer

Posted by: lisa gray at March 21, 2006 10:22 AM

Oh, Alfonso Soriano. Oh, Jim Bowden. It's like a match made in heaven.

Posted by: Dave S. at March 21, 2006 10:29 AM

What a whinner!! I can't believe anyone in "Professional Baseball" would act this way? It is not as if they are asking him to do something against his contract or illegal - for crying out loud - get over it! Does he realize what he looks like doing this??

Posted by: Bob Eddy at March 21, 2006 10:39 AM

The intriguing thing is thinking about what would have happened if Torre stepped up for the good of his team and told Jeter that ARod would be playing SS and that Jeter would be moved to third. Who knows... Jeter may have pulled this same crap (I doubt it, but he was willing to continue to play SS even though he had to know that ARod was just plain better at it and that the team would be better with ARod there than him). It's times like this that I once again remind myself of how thankful I am for the New England Patriots. Guaranteed contracts or not, that just doesn't happen to that team... and they're consistently successful. So at least there is some evidence that removing this superstar notion from superstars can still lead to productive, winning seasons.

Posted by: Mike at March 21, 2006 10:49 AM

Soriano is playing a game of chicken and hoping the Nats will trade him. He knows they play in a pitchers park and he doesn't want to go into free-agency off a down year. Problem is Washington is not a normal team with an owner. He's playing chicken with some guys (Bowden/Robinson) who may not care to backdown. Also, he isn't considering how many teams won't want him after this stunt. My guess is he will fold before they do. On payday Bowden and Robinson will still get paid whether Soriano's in left field or not. Should be entertaining to watch.

Posted by: LargeBill at March 21, 2006 12:06 PM

If one side fails to stick to her/her/its part of the bargain, there is a breach. A breach occurs when:

one party to a contract makes it impossible for the other parties to the contract to perform;

a party to the contract does something against the intent of the contract; or

a party absolutely refuses to perform the contract.

Not all breaches of contract are necessarily "contract killers" which would end up in a lawsuit. Much would depend on whether the breach is "material" or "immaterial" and who the parties are. If the breach is immaterial, you may have the option to:

ignore or excuse the defect and continue on as if nothing occurred,

point out the problem to the responsible side and give it/she/him an opportunity to fix it,

refuse to pay anything more until it is fixed, or

correct the work yourself and deduct the cost from any payment.

What makes sense for you will depend on the facts. Where the matter is substantial, the advice of an attorney can help you.

I am an attorney.

Posted by: CSMiles at March 21, 2006 12:55 PM

Wow - Alfonso Soriano makes a bid for the MLB "All-Time Jerks" team as an outfielder. Good riddance, A.S., and I hope they do void your contract and no one else dares pick up your attitude problem.

Posted by: Scott at March 21, 2006 02:11 PM

When I heard of this I thought, "Good. The Nationals knew they were getting a great hitting second baseman when they made this trade and now they are stuck with one."
This whole time, Soriano's said he doesn't want to switch positions. He isn't a cancer on the league, he's a man who's making a stand. No matter how small of a stand it is, I salute him for sticking to it.
How long has this been going on? 4 months? And now that games are going on they expect just because they pencil him into the lineup he's going to say,
'alright guys, you win, i don't mean anything I've ever said about not wanting to play LF. i really don't care about you guys, i didn't choose to sign with you and it was never agreed to by me that i come here, but i'm going to ruin my career and my dignity by caving.'
And don't be naive, he would ruin his career by switching to LF. He's one of the best 2B in the league, and THAT is why he's making 10 Million this year (or at rather, has a contract for that much). If he had switched to LF already he would not be seen as an elite player, and wouldn't be making elite player money like he is currently.
CONCLUSION: I think the Nationals will cave, they will trade him to the Mets for someone who's not nearly as good. Shoot they won't get Lastings Milledge, they won't get Phillip Humber, they might get Carlos Gomez or John Maine and either Nady or Diaz to fill their OF gap.

Posted by: dave at March 21, 2006 03:37 PM

if i am omar minaya and jim bowden calls me offering soriano for diaz i immediatly hang up and book Diaz a flight to our nation's capital.

Posted by: tony flynn at March 21, 2006 06:53 PM

The most dismaying irony of all is that we traded away a guy (Brad Wilkerson) who did pretty much ANYTHING the team asked him of him last year, including 1.) batting lead-off, which he hated as he's certainly not a natural lead-off hitter; 2.) playing any position he was asked to help cover for the heaping pile of injured Nationals, including every position of the outfield, 1st base (in place of Nick Johnson), and even a game or two at second, IIRC; 3.) playing with a pinched nerve in his elbow all season long without so much as a complaint.

We traded this guy for Soriano?

Posted by: Jeff B. at March 21, 2006 08:32 PM

Jeff,

Why bother trying to find any rationality in the actions of Mr. Bowden?

Posted by: tony flynn at March 21, 2006 09:46 PM

Dave, he's hardly the best second baseman in the MLB, much less in the AL unless you're talking about hitting. But even then, even with 30HR/100+RBI, watching Soriano hack away at the plate makes me feel sick.

The guy the Nats have at 2B is a better defensive 2B. Soriano looks like a goon at 2B. I hope he becomes a free agent and signs in the AL, because his only worth is as a permanent DH.

Soriano is a prima donna, not a ballplayer.

Posted by: Caitlin at March 22, 2006 12:24 AM

Tony, that might make to the worst fielding right side in the history of the game. Couple that with the fact that he'd be in a pitcher's park and I would not trade the Nats a ham sandwich for Sori. Unless the purpose is to repackage him with other players in a second trade. I don't want to see this fool in a home uniform at Shea period. And I hold Bowden, not Soriano, responsible for this fiasco.

Posted by: abe at March 22, 2006 12:17 PM
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