MeatampPotatoesMan

I just think it would be cool to watch the President, aka the most powerful man on Earth, throw out a first pitch.

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link It's pretty funny how the coaches and club officials went out of their way to talk crap about this incident when there was a completely benign explanation for it happening. Hmm, trade for a player who is known to resist a position change. Demand that position change be made and then publicly bash the player for things he hasn't even done (or you've set him up to not do). The Nationals really hurt their case by acting like this if Soriano wants to file a grievance of the position change. By the way, this whole thing doesn't add up. If Soriano's name wasn't on the lineup card, then wouldn't someone else (the actual left-fielder on the lineup card) have trotted out to left field? Soriano's an idiot, and he's probably lying on top of it. Except it was 2 mlb sources that brought up the lineup card thing, not Soriano.

Well if he continues to play LF, he'll save us by not allowing Hendry to trade for him. Murton and Pie for Soriano. :roll:

link It's pretty funny how the coaches and club officials went out of their way to talk crap about this incident when there was a completely benign explanation for it happening. Hmm, trade for a player who is known to resist a position change. Demand that position change be made and then publicly bash the player for things he hasn't even done (or you've set him up to not do). The Nationals really hurt their case by acting like this if Soriano wants to file a grievance of the position change.

Yup. Soriano will play LF. link

Other than refusing to do what his employer (who is paying him $10 million) tells him to do? It's not that simple. Even the MLB Basic Labor Agreement is unclear on this issue. Personally, I think the team has a stronger case b/c of some of the wording, but the ordered change of position is not covered. You are only required to do what the contract (and the law) require you to under the terms you agreed to. Contract schmontract. He's acting like an idiot. They're paying him 10 million bucks. It's not like they're asking him to paint the stadium or sell hot dogs. They're asking him to play baseball at a different position. To me, he's doing something wrong. I kind of agree. He's being a dink about this. If anything, just play the OF for one year, hit FA and tell your interested teams that you will only play 2B. There are 10 million reasons just to stfu and play. I think he probably plays LF for the Nats today. We'll find out shortly (first pitch at 1PM Eastern). Not getting that service time, even if it is only for part of the season, will dramatically affect his wallet.

Other than refusing to do what his employer (who is paying him $10 million) tells him to do? It's not that simple. Even the MLB Basic Labor Agreement is unclear on this issue. Personally, I think the team has a stronger case b/c of some of the wording, but the ordered change of position is not covered. You are only required to do what the contract (and the law) require you to under the terms you agreed to.

I was more refering to the advocating of trading a 2.5 million solid player for his 10 million whiny ass. Ah! Right on. Soriano just isn't worth it compared to Walker in terms of money, not to mention the talent that we'd have to give up to get him. And then there's the matter of Soriano wanting to go back to the AL when he hit's FA after this season (assuming he isn't put on the DQ list). It's just not a smart move. IMO, Walker is much more of a whiner than Soriano. Teammates and coaches all say Soriano is not a clubhouse cancer or a complainer. He just has this one issue with a position change. He didn't even complain, just said that he wasn't going to move to the OF. Egomaniac and too full of pride? Yes. Whiner? No.

I'd rather have Wilkerson than Pierre in CF any day, but you don't deal your top position player prospect for a 29 year old OF coming off a down year who's about to hit FA (with injury concerns). I don't think Wilkerson's concerns are necessarily greater than Pie's concerns. If Pie doesn't improve his discipline -- and it's extremely doubtful that he will -- he may not ever manage to be a real impact bat. His number one PECOTA comparable is still Corey Patterson. Pie had one injury and is making under 500k per season with no ML service time. Wilkerson (3+ years service time) is making 4M this season after avoiding arbitration, and that's going to go up. There are always going to be doubts about a prospect. That's why they're prospects and not everyday ML starters. You can trade the unproven commodity for a proven one, it just costs more. I'd rather have guys like Murton and Pie taking up 2/3 of the OF with a ton of cash to burn on a stud to go with Ramirez and Lee. That's what cheap talent allows you to do - afford that big impact player. Burning cash on good players (Wilkerson) and a bunch of crappy vets (see Neifi, Rusch, etc) just wastes payroll. I'd rather have one or two studs and cheap young talent around them. I'm never big on Pie until I see him play. Then I get excited again. I look at the K/BB number and cool down. Then I see him again. Maybe I'm too emotionally attached to what he can become. I think a big part of Pie's problem is the language barrier (he's requested extra English classes). That should help his "rawness." Plate discipline may not be teachable. He may just be one of those guys with a low OBP and good SLG. It's just a tradeoff.

I guess I'm a fool. Higher payroll doesn't = winning. How you spend the money you have is what puts together a winning team. How have the Braves been as successful as they have? The A's? The list goes on. If money = winning, the teams with the top payrolls would win the WS year in and year out, but that's not what happens.

I agree with him. Soriano hasn't done anything wrong.

Because. :lol:

I'd rather have Wilkerson than Pierre in CF any day, but you don't deal your top position player prospect for a 29 year old OF coming off a down year who's about to hit FA (with injury concerns).

I don't see the Cubs getting into this mess at all... lmfao. Pie or Z? Give me a freaking break. That writer needs to lay off the crack. Would anyone trade Pie (much less Z) for Wilkerson (and Sledge) - the two players who netted Soriano before this drama? Bowden is border line [expletive].

They're commited to winning all right. They're just so freaking incompetent that 100M dollars can't buy us a playoff team.

Wow, the Nationals are really trying to spin this as Soriano's fault. What a bunch of jerks. Supposedly he "refused to play LF" the other day and left LF open to start the game so a change had to be made. Now we find out that the roster for the starting 9 didn't even have Soriano's name on it. Soriano is the bad guy. It wouldn't even be a big deal if the Nationals coaches had taken the time to find out what happened before talking the media and casting Soriano as Mr. Selfish. link

Coming off a torn ACL. how much is guaranteed?

I'd take the equivalent of Florida's team over the crap we saw last year for $100M. At least I'd have some hope for the future.

The decision has already been made internally in the Cards organization. Reyes is going to AAA Memphis. Ponson has won the #5 spot.

I hope so. No more Andy MacPhail, Baker, and Hendry. 8)

Yup. Nixon 2005 vs. Righties: .288/.364/.483/.847 Pena 2005 vs. Lefties: .291/.345/.536/.881 Nice pickup by Boston. I don't know if I would trade a starting pitcher for a platoon guy though, especially a right handed one. Both teams traded surplus players. The Reds had surplus OF and the Sox had surplus pitching. Arroyo was set to pitch out of the pen anyway. His value to the Sox wasn't that high. Essentially he was a RP who could become a SP in an emergency. Arroyo's value to the Sox wasn't as high as it was to the Reds. Smart move. At worst the Sox get a compotent platoon partner for Nixon. If Pena ever figures out right handed pitching, they've got a stud to replace Nixon. I like the acquisition by the Reds too. Good trade all around although I think the Sox came out further ahead, but they both benefitted.

Pinto ahead of Pawelek. :shock: Looks like you're right about Hill though, although ST might just be a fluke (or Hill reverting to pre-2005 levels).

Marshall pitched 3 innings, 1 BB, 2 H, 2 SO, 0 R He's yet to give up a run this Spring. And one of those 2 hits was a bunt! Hehe. Aramis was definitely caught napping on that one - didn't even make a throw to 1st, just tossed the ball back to Marshall. :lol:

The Nats asked for permission from the Rangers to speak with Soriano prior to the trade. Permission was denied. The Nats made the deal anyway (obviously). It still seems rather foolish to do the deal whether permission was granted or denied. Texas was actively shopping him. They denied permission because they knew Soriano would kill the deal. The Nats should have been more prudent and pulled away. While Soriano is being foolish so were the Nats. There are no winners here. Just two big jackasses. Bowden made the move under the assumption that the reason Texas denied the Nationals' request to speak with Soriano was that he would reject a move to the OF. He knew this was coming. Soriano doesn't get credit for service time if he's put on the DQ list. So it's not like he can just sit this year out and get his FA money (which would probably be more impacted by the loss of playing time rather than a position change).