I think that plays a part, but it probably just makes things better and/or worse, rather than forming the opinion in the first place. Soriano was destined to be booed. He's never been as good as his pre-Cubs reputation suggested he was, his contract was insane, and his high strikeout free swinging approach riles fans regardless. Kaplan piling on makes it worse, but it didn't create the monster. Soriano gets killed because he's streaky and once he goes cold, he has nothing to fall back on. His defense is awful and he doesn't even attempt to steal anymore, which drives me insane. Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.