Soriano traded to the Nationals..

[metirish]

Despite an uncertain ownership situation, the Washington Nationals have made a splash at baseball's Winter Meetings.

The Nationals have acquired Texas Rangers' second baseman Alfonso Soriano in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and a minor-leaguer to be named later, ESPN's Peter Gammons reports.

The deal is pending physicals.

Soriano hit .268 with 36 home runs, 104 RBI and recorded 30 stolen bases last season. During his seven-year career, Soriano has a .280 average with 162 home runs, 465 RBI and 169 stolen bases.

With Jose Vidro already entrenched at second base, it's believed that the Nationals would move Soriano to left field.


www.espn.com

[Guest sharpie]

Wow. Edgy, fix that IGT. I bet they move Vidro rather than play Soriano in left.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wowee!

Splash!

Oh, and good.

Unless this puts us on the Manny hunt again, then bad.

[metirish]

]Unless this puts us on the Manny hunt again, then bad.

yep , I bet that's the angle the media will take ...

[Valadius]

Wow! Did not see this coming, especially with Vidro in place.

Thank God we can stop speculating on his coming here... at least for a while.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Little bit of a challenge trade. Nice.

[nymr83]

good for them. they are the the only team in our division i don't despise and its nice to see this abused franchise trading to get a guy they really want (even if i personally don't like him much)

[Guest abogdan]

A franchise without an owner commits to spend almost $20 million on two second basemen. I don't get it. Wilkerson should have a very nice year in Arlington. Soriano slugged .374 away from Texas last year and is moving to a terrible hitter's park. His numbers should take a big nosedive. I'm glad Washington got him so that the Mets won't.

[MFS62]

The best news is that we won't have to face Wilkerson on a regular basis.
For a while there (although he may have cooled off last year) he was a pain in the ERA to Mets pitchers.

Later

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: Alfonso Soriano in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and a minor-leaguer to be named later

And from what we've read Minaya was considering giving up Milledge for Sori. Makes me think that if we could've got Sori for a package comparable to what Washington gave up, then we should have done it.

Interesting. Does Minaya give an impression of being so eager to deal that teams know they can take advantage of him and ask for more than they could possibly get from other teams?

[seawolf17]

What package would we have that's close to that?

Either way, I never wanted Soriano, so I'm pleased.

[metirish]

So this should be interesting, Soriano by all accounts hated playing for Showalter, Buck being a stickler for playing hard and so on, let's see how he likes playing for Frank Robinson.

[soupcan]

seawolf17 wrote: What package would we have that's close to that? Either way, I never wanted Soriano, so I'm pleased.

Wilklerson's no prize, Termel Sledge? Minor leaguer to be named?

I think we could have come up with something inbetween that and including Milledge, no?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Wilkerrson rocks. I'm sure in the Rangers' park his power #'s increase and his OBP of 360 vs. Soriano's 310 will be a major boost for their O. Edge, Rangers.

[smg58]

How well the deal works for Texas depends on the health of Wilkerson and Sledge. Wilkerson was never right last year, but he could easily bounce back. Sledge basically lost all of last year, but he does have talent.

I'm not sure I like Soriano in that park. This could backfire on the Nats.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Nats have a new park coming.

Someday.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, but not this year and that's the only year they're guaranteed of having Soriano - and an expensive ($10mil?) year at that.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Good deal for the Rangers. And us. Soriano will have a hard time hitting dingers at RFK and he doesn't get on base enough for his speed to help him.

I'm a huge Wilkerson fan--I bet he becomes a monster in Arlington . . .

Sledge isn't bad, either. Pretty good eye at the plate (.390 OBP in the minors), doesn't K much and has a little power--his minor league OPS is .863.

AND they save a couple million in the process. Nice, nice move.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]Yeah, but not this year

Well, yeah, I meant to imply a "Heh, heh" there. Right now, the park is so up in the air that Schrodinger's Cat is more of a reality.

[metirish]

] Soriano: 'I'm not going to change from second base'ESPN.com news services If the Nationals acquired Alfonso Soriano to move him to the outfield, as has been speculated, they might be in for a rude awakening. In an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Soriano reiterated a position he maintained while with the Rangers: He's not moving from second base. "I have the same position [on moving] as I always had when I was with Texas," Soriano told the newspaper. "I said that I'm not going to change from second base." Although he said he hasn't spoken with anyone from the Nationals, Soriano told the Star-Telegram that he believes the club traded for him to play second base. "I think that if they traded for me, it's to play second base," he told the newspaper. However, Washington already has a past All-Star at second base in Jose Vidro, though he was hampered by leg problems last season that limited him to 87 games. Soriano has been reluctant in the past to switch positions. When he was acquired by Texas in the February 2004 trade that sent AL MVP Alex Rodriguez to the New York Yankees, Soriano remained at second base and Michael Young moved to shortstop, where he became an All-Star.

me thinks he'll play where Frank Robinson tells him to play.

[Valadius]

I wouldn't want a "me me me" player like that on my team.

[Guest abogdan]

Wouldn't it make sense to ask a player about his willingness to change positions before you trade two major leaguers for him? Not to mention committing to somewhere around $10 million in salary. It's not like Soriano hasn't said this before. He made a big stink about not wanting to move from 2b when he was traded to Texas. This will not turn out well for the Nats.

[smg58]

Would they take Zambrano for Vidro?

[Vic Sage]

ooh, i like THAT idea!

[Centerfield]

Vidro was hampered by leg problems last year limiting him to 80 some-odd games. There was speculation that the injury may never heal correctly and that we may never see the old Vidro again.

[Frayed Knot]

I was about to say the same thing.
I'd need to know a lot more about Vidro's state of health and state of wealth (contract status) before proposing deals for him.

[Elster88]

Valadius wrote: I wouldn't want a "me me me" player like that on my team.

mi mi mi

do re mi fa so...

Anyway. I don't give a flying fuck about "me me me" or whatever. Give me a guy who plays the game well. Our 1986 roster was filled with guys that you wouldn't want on your team, Val.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Elster88 wrote: Our 1986 roster was filled with guys that you wouldn't want on your team

Was it really? In retrospect, Yes, but I don't think many of the players had the bad rep in 1986. Mitch and Nails were just enthusiastic kids, not the thugs and cretins they later showed themselves to be, same deal with Doc and Straw, Knight was a tough guy but not in a criminal or bad-influence sense, Orosco was moody but more withdrawn than hostile, Backman was feisty but in a good way, Foster was a jerk but not a big contributor to the prevailing mood of the clubhouse, McDowell was a goofball but not in a mean or egocentric way...I'm not seeing it.