the fact that it wasn't worth giving up prospects/established players for him at the time. now he doesn't cost us players, and the nl is so weak that now is the time to go for it all. soriano's 30+ homeruns and 500+ slugging percentage will help reach that goal this year. we'd probably regret signing him 2-3 years into the contract, but the cubs offense need to significantly improve, and it needs to improve right now. soriano is an improvement.