Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 19, 2006
Soriano to the Cubs

ESPN.com posted a report that Alfonso Soriano signed with the Cubs for about $17 million a year for eight years. I'm not surprised at the $17 million, given the thin free agent market, but I'm shocked by the length of the contract. Yes, he hits for power, but the guy owns a .325 career OBA. Having a career walk year at age 30 just doesn't impress me that much. But the Cubs don't really seem to go for OBA guys, so they got someone who works for them.

What this does, of course, is make everyone in the future more expensive. It's going to be real easy for players who both get on base and hit for power to hold up Soriano as an example of why they deserve more money. The union has to be real happy about this contract.

To his credit, Alfonso did everything right. He expressed his displeasure with moving to left, but didn't dwell on the issue. Offensively, he played better than ever, upping his value. And he's taking advantage of a low supply of quality free agents. He's signed a Manny Ramirez like contract without being anywhere near as good as Manny.


Posted by David Pinto at 03:35 PM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
Comments

oh yea, the cubs like that kind of guy, that's why they threw the bank at Soriano... From what has been being posted online, most teams that could afford to even think about signing Soriano were interested. The Cubs finally get their guy after offseason after offseason of empty talk or not being willing to dole out. They are finally spending some money. The way I see it, in re-signing Ramirez and now signing Soriano, the Cubs have signed the two best players available this winter.

Posted by: Chris at November 19, 2006 03:52 PM

Basically, the Cubs just signed the worst contract of all-time in any sport ever.

Posted by: Reno at November 19, 2006 04:15 PM

Because of the length that contract's going to hurt the Cubs more than Helton's and Giambi's have throttled their teams.

Posted by: Basura at November 19, 2006 06:02 PM

Basura, I guess it depends on your defintion of "hurt". Like the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, a contract shouldn't really hurt the Cubs.

Posted by: Bill K at November 19, 2006 06:08 PM

Soriano's going to be 39 at the end of this contract. Those last few years are going to be so overvalued. Signing a 30 year old player to an 8 year contract is absurd. Especially when you consider that players like Soriano, who don't have great ball-strike recognition, tend to age more quickly and lose their hitting ability than other players (OBP is a huge determinant in career length), and this is a recipe for disaster. Sure the Cubs can afford it, but what happens when they have to trot out a player who is clearly underperforming when he's 36, obligated by a huge contract to play him and unable to trade him? Helton is a really nice parallel here, I think. But if the Cubs get a WS out of it it's worth it, right?

Posted by: david at November 19, 2006 06:57 PM

8 years = too much...

Posted by: Tan The Man at November 19, 2006 07:18 PM

exactly! The Cubs can afford it! They probably did what they had to do in giving that 8th year. For once, they are doing what they have to do to sign the best player available. I find it quite refreshing.

Posted by: Chris at November 20, 2006 12:32 AM

not like the cubs are going to win the world series anytime soon, another sammy type player who will put up huge numers at wrigley and go out with a wimper at 37 or so.

count on the cards being back in the nl. they have the best player in the game. and smart management.

Posted by: colin at November 20, 2006 12:45 AM

What I find interesting is the number of quality managers Soriano has played for, from Torre, to Showalter, to Robinson, to now Piniella. He has been in contact with a lot fo good baseball people in his career.

Posted by: chris at November 20, 2006 04:39 AM

they have the best player in the game.

When did the Cubs get Albert Pujols?

Posted by: Jurgen at November 20, 2006 09:51 AM

When did the Cubs get Albert Pujols?

Ummm....read the entire comment. This is what he said:

count on the cards being back in the nl. they have the best player in the game. and smart management.
He was referring to the Cards...

Posted by: dave at November 20, 2006 10:30 AM

Given that Tribune is basically raking the employees in its core newspaper businesses over the coals right now, "offensive" doesn't even begin to describe just how preposterous and out of step with reality the Soriano contract is. How horribly embarrassing on every conceivable level. TRB continues to circle the drain.

Posted by: Tim at November 20, 2006 12:08 PM

You know what's crazy about Soriano's season? Throw out his IBBs, and his OBP last season was 337. That's right. .337! That's just totally unacceptable for a guy getting 17 mil a year.

Posted by: david at November 20, 2006 10:33 PM

Boy you nay-sayers are right. If the Cubs have to carry Sorinao's salary 7 or 8 years from now, and he declines, it might make it harder to sign Neife Perez in 2013. And that's the year I was counting on them to win the WS.

Signing the best FA to fill a huge need for what it took is bad enough, but what really gets me is that I understand Hendry is not done trying to "overpay" other top FA's at market rate to try to "improve" the team. How can the Cubs afford to outbid Houston or Anaheim? Does Hendry think this is a big market or something? Won't this impact the great chemistry the team had? Won't this, along with the Lou hire, send a message to other FAs that the Cubs are serious about winning and attract players that are also too serious? Won't this raise expectations and ruin the lovable losers brand? Boy I hope not.

The tribune co. may make less money off the team now, or maybe more, boy that's hard to get my head around - you don't take chances in business, it just does not pay off. Trib co. will have to sell the Cubs, but who would want to buy the them after this deal - new money private owners/fans don't like winners or see untapped potential, they like cash flow. I'm sure Cuban hated the move.

Also, the Cardinals won the division/WS finishing actually over-500, and the NL is so strong, this is not the time to make a run.

So little to gain, so much to lose -I think the Cubs should "stay the course."

Posted by: dw at November 21, 2006 12:51 AM

Wow you are all messed up for those of you who think the cubs won't be better. We still have tons of money left to have offered Schmidt 44 million plus there still not done. And the Cardinals Albert Pujols is the Cardinals only player. Without him the Cardinals would be at the bottom of the division. Any team who has just Pujols would make it to the playoffs, especially if they only needed 83 wins, which the Cubs can easily do this year with there improved team.

Posted by: JMR at November 28, 2006 11:55 PM
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