Trading Soriano

[Little Slide Rooter]

Um, Andruw Jones is pretty much slated for part-time DH duty already. Gardner in LF, Granderson in CF, and Swisher in RF. Unless they move Swisher, those three should be the starting OF's entering the season.

 

I just don't see the Yankees taking a look at Soriano unless we eat the whole shebang. My guess is that they'll look to add a cheap lefty that mashes righties, pair him with Jones as a DH-platoon of sort, while occasionally rotating an older player like ARod there, at which point Jones may be utilized to give one of the OF's a day off.

 

Carlos Pena makes a ton of sense, but I do wonder if they'd prefer a more versatile guy on the bench, someone that could rotate in as depth for some of their aging options.

 

They already have a full outfield with Swisher(Switch), Gardner(LH), Granderson(LH) and Jones (RH). If not, even if they passed on soriano Byrd would be a great option for them. I dobt that they'll get Pena for <8 mil. Their best bet is one of those aging sluggers like Matsui or Vlad. Of course there's also Manny. He'd add some nice intensity to the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. I don't know how much money he's looking for, but I can't see anyone giving him more than 1-2 mil+incentives. There was also talk earlier in the season that Jermaine Dye was looking to come out of forced retirement, so he could be an option.

[biittner77]

I would jump all over Burnett for Soriano.Both guys make about the same, but I would think that Burnett would have a better chance to reestabish value and we could trade him for a prospect worth getting down the road.

 

Or they could just keep Burnett to buy time for the development of guys like McNutt, Whitenack, etc. and not be out that much money. The Yankees shouldn't mind that deal either since they can use the $2 they have to spend on Dh for some other need.

 

The problem then becomes finding someone to play LF.

[Sammy Sofa]

It would be interesting to know how a guy like Soriano would reconcile staying in a place he's comfortable, but knows he's not wanted, versus going to a place he'd rather not be, but that wants him.

 

It has to be hard coming to the ballpark every day after the team has tried to get rid of you, and you nixed it.

 

Nobody "wants" him, at least not in a fan sense. The general consensus is that he's a vastly overpaid, flawed player on the downside of his career. On the flip-side, the talk seems to be that he's a popular and likeable player amongst his teammates, so it's not like he's "not wanted" here outside of the front office looking to move him if possible. It's not like he's going to be showing up every day and everyone is shunning him and treating him like [expletive] because Theo and Hoyer would like to move him.

[davearm2]

It would be interesting to know how a guy like Soriano would reconcile staying in a place he's comfortable, but knows he's not wanted, versus going to a place he'd rather not be, but that wants him.

 

It has to be hard coming to the ballpark every day after the team has tried to get rid of you, and you nixed it.

 

Nobody "wants" him, at least not in a fan sense. The general consensus is that he's a vastly overpaid, flawed player on the downside of his career. On the flip-side, the talk seems to be that he's a popular and likeable player amongst his teammates, so it's not like he's "not wanted" here outside of the front office looking to move him if possible. It's not like he's going to be showing up every day and everyone is shunning him and treating him like [expletive] because Theo and Hoyer would like to move him.

If the Cubs have a trade lined up for Soriano, then obviously some other team wants him. That's the whole premise of this discussion.

 

Right now Soriano is an employee his bosses desperately wish they could get rid of. He's not wanted. They'd much rather give the job (and especially the salary) to somebody else.

 

If you don't imagine it might be difficult to go to work every day under those circumstances, then we may as well just be done talking about this.

[SouthSideRyan]

It would be interesting to know how a guy like Soriano would reconcile staying in a place he's comfortable, but knows he's not wanted, versus going to a place he'd rather not be, but that wants him.

 

It has to be hard coming to the ballpark every day after the team has tried to get rid of you, and you nixed it.

 

Nobody "wants" him, at least not in a fan sense. The general consensus is that he's a vastly overpaid, flawed player on the downside of his career. On the flip-side, the talk seems to be that he's a popular and likeable player amongst his teammates, so it's not like he's "not wanted" here outside of the front office looking to move him if possible. It's not like he's going to be showing up every day and everyone is shunning him and treating him like [expletive] because Theo and Hoyer would like to move him.

If the Cubs have a trade lined up for Soriano, then obviously some other team wants him. That's the whole premise of this discussion.

 

Right now Soriano is an employee his bosses desperately wish they could get rid of. He's not wanted. They'd much rather give the job (and especially the salary) to somebody else.

 

If you don't imagine it might be difficult to go to work every day under those circumstances, then we may as well just be done talking about this.

 

I think we should keep pretending like a baseball team operates the same way as a normal employer.

[Rob]

Yeah, that argument has always amused me.

[davearm2]

It would be interesting to know how a guy like Soriano would reconcile staying in a place he's comfortable, but knows he's not wanted, versus going to a place he'd rather not be, but that wants him.

 

It has to be hard coming to the ballpark every day after the team has tried to get rid of you, and you nixed it.

 

Nobody "wants" him, at least not in a fan sense. The general consensus is that he's a vastly overpaid, flawed player on the downside of his career. On the flip-side, the talk seems to be that he's a popular and likeable player amongst his teammates, so it's not like he's "not wanted" here outside of the front office looking to move him if possible. It's not like he's going to be showing up every day and everyone is shunning him and treating him like [expletive] because Theo and Hoyer would like to move him.

If the Cubs have a trade lined up for Soriano, then obviously some other team wants him. That's the whole premise of this discussion.

 

Right now Soriano is an employee his bosses desperately wish they could get rid of. He's not wanted. They'd much rather give the job (and especially the salary) to somebody else.

 

If you don't imagine it might be difficult to go to work every day under those circumstances, then we may as well just be done talking about this.

 

I think we should keep pretending like a baseball team operates the same way as a normal employer.

We're not talking about how a baseball team team operates. We're talking about how a baseball player thinks.

 

Obviously not all players think the same way, but I'd venture to guess that the laws of human nature apply to most of them.

[Backtobanks]

It would be interesting to know how a guy like Soriano would reconcile staying in a place he's comfortable, but knows he's not wanted, versus going to a place he'd rather not be, but that wants him.

 

It has to be hard coming to the ballpark every day after the team has tried to get rid of you, and you nixed it.

 

Nobody "wants" him, at least not in a fan sense. The general consensus is that he's a vastly overpaid, flawed player on the downside of his career. On the flip-side, the talk seems to be that he's a popular and likeable player amongst his teammates, so it's not like he's "not wanted" here outside of the front office looking to move him if possible. It's not like he's going to be showing up every day and everyone is shunning him and treating him like [expletive] because Theo and Hoyer would like to move him.

If the Cubs have a trade lined up for Soriano, then obviously some other team wants him. That's the whole premise of this discussion.

 

Right now Soriano is an employee his bosses desperately wish they could get rid of. He's not wanted. They'd much rather give the job (and especially the salary) to somebody else.

 

If you don't imagine it might be difficult to go to work every day under those circumstances, then we may as well just be done talking about this.

 

I think we should keep pretending like a baseball team operates the same way as a normal employer.

We're not talking about how a baseball team team operates. We're talking about how a baseball player thinks.

 

Obviously not all players think the same way, but I'd venture to guess that the laws of human nature apply to most of them.

 

I'm not sure that's been the case with a lot of Cub players over the years. They seem to welcome the comfortable atmosphere rather than moving on to another team.

[Brett]

Victor Martinez has a torn ACL and will likely miss all of 2012.

 

Think the Cubs are trying to call the Tigers almost immediately?

[Clem Fandango]

Victor Martinez has a torn ACL and will likely miss all of 2012.

 

Think the Cubs are trying to call the Tigers almost immediately?

 

Soriano would make sense, depends on how much they're able to take on/Cubs are willing to eat. Would packaging Garza + Soriano + $ loosen the reigns for a Turner/Castellanos deal?

[Butterscup1679666578]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

[jersey cubs fan]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

 

Unless they can get Soriano for free.

[Brett]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

 

All things equal, I'm sure they'd prefer Pena. But Pena at $8 million for 2012, or Soriano for $8 million total for 2012, 2013, and 2014? I'm genuinely not sure.

[Sammy Sofa]

We're not talking about how a baseball team team operates. We're talking about how a baseball player thinks.

 

Obviously not all players think the same way, but I'd venture to guess that the laws of human nature apply to most of them.

 

What do you think this means?

 

The Cubs have wanted to shed themselves of Soriano and his contract for years now. Theo and Hoyer wanting to move him isn't bringing something new to the table.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Sammy Sofa

[Rob]

"I'm not swinging at anything if Soriano doesn't start making a fresh pot of coffee when he finishes the old one."

[KingCubsFan]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

 

All things equal, I'm sure they'd prefer Pena. But Pena at $8 million for 2012, or Soriano for $8 million total for 2012, 2013, and 2014? I'm genuinely not sure.

What happens to Soriano when Martinez comes back next year?

[Guest]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

 

All things equal, I'm sure they'd prefer Pena. But Pena at $8 million for 2012, or Soriano for $8 million total for 2012, 2013, and 2014? I'm genuinely not sure.

What happens to Soriano when Martinez comes back next year?

 

they ship him off for someone else who needs a DH for $2.7M/year..particularly if he has a decent year

[Brett]

Tigers would probably just sign Pena or someone I assume?

 

All things equal, I'm sure they'd prefer Pena. But Pena at $8 million for 2012, or Soriano for $8 million total for 2012, 2013, and 2014? I'm genuinely not sure.

What happens to Soriano when Martinez comes back next year?

 

they ship him off for someone else who needs a DH for $2.7M/year..particularly if he has a decent year

 

Which, I know, is easier said than done, but it's not implausible - I think if Soriano were a full-time DH, he could see a pretty nice bounce in his numbers (which were already almost league average for a DH last year).

[davearm2]

"I'm not swinging at anything if Soriano doesn't start making a fresh pot of coffee when he finishes the old one."

LOL Rob if you think that comment is on point, then I have vastly overestimated your comprehension.

[PrimeTime]

From over at Bleachernation.com

 

The Alfonso Soriano speculation continues. Bruce Levine reiterates that the Cubs would be willing to eat 80% of the remaining $54 million (over three years) owed to Soriano, and Jim Bowden says the Tigers should consider Soriano to replace Victor Martinez. Thing is? I’m told that, when the Cubs contacted the Tigers about Soriano after learning of the Martinez injury, the Tigers wanted the Cubs to eat 95% of his remaining salary.

[jersey cubs fan]

From over at Bleachernation.com

 

The Alfonso Soriano speculation continues. Bruce Levine reiterates that the Cubs would be willing to eat 80% of the remaining $54 million (over three years) owed to Soriano, and Jim Bowden says the Tigers should consider Soriano to replace Victor Martinez. Thing is? I’m told that, when the Cubs contacted the Tigers about Soriano after learning of the Martinez injury, the Tigers wanted the Cubs to eat 95% of his remaining salary.

 

Sounds like a pretty good starting point for negotiations. A difference of $8m?

[rawaction]

From over at Bleachernation.com

 

The Alfonso Soriano speculation continues. Bruce Levine reiterates that the Cubs would be willing to eat 80% of the remaining $54 million (over three years) owed to Soriano, and Jim Bowden says the Tigers should consider Soriano to replace Victor Martinez. Thing is? I’m told that, when the Cubs contacted the Tigers about Soriano after learning of the Martinez injury, the Tigers wanted the Cubs to eat 95% of his remaining salary.

 

Sounds like a pretty good starting point for negotiations. A difference of $8m?

 

Yeah, it's a really good start. 3 years, 2.7 Mil seems insanely low for Soriano. I don't think 3 years, 10.8 Mil is too much to ask a team to pay for him. Granted, the years are clearly the bigger issue, but if he was a FA you wouldn't get Soriano for much less than 3.6Mil/year. Guessing a team will meet the Cubs somewhere in the middle. 3 years/$5-7Mil wouldn't be bad for a team to swallow.

[KingCubsFan]

From over at Bleachernation.com

 

The Alfonso Soriano speculation continues. Bruce Levine reiterates that the Cubs would be willing to eat 80% of the remaining $54 million (over three years) owed to Soriano, and Jim Bowden says the Tigers should consider Soriano to replace Victor Martinez. Thing is? I’m told that, when the Cubs contacted the Tigers about Soriano after learning of the Martinez injury, the Tigers wanted the Cubs to eat 95% of his remaining salary.

 

Sounds like a pretty good starting point for negotiations. A difference of $8m?

 

Yeah, it's a really good start. 3 years, 2.7 Mil seems insanely low for Soriano. I don't think 3 years, 10.8 Mil is too much to ask a team to pay for him. Granted, the years are clearly the bigger issue, but if he was a FA you wouldn't get Soriano for much less than 3.6Mil/year. Guessing a team will meet the Cubs somewhere in the middle. 3 years/$5-7Mil wouldn't be bad for a team to swallow.

The problem is that Soriano likely wouldn't get a multiyear deal on the open market. The additional years on his contract make it hard to compare what he'd get on the open market.

[jersey cubs fan]

The problem is that Soriano likely wouldn't get a multiyear deal on the open market. The additional years on his contract make it hard to compare what he'd get on the open market.

 

Right, but if you think he could get 1/4, then something like 3/6-7 shouldn't make them flinch, and that would be around the midpoint.

[Post Count Padder]

As much as I'd rather trade Soriano, it sees like at that price they'd have more interest in trading for Byrd.

 

That's a lot of money to eat, but if it gets us a better prospect (and helps facilitate a Garza deal for Turner and more) then I think I'd be ok with it.