Alfonso Soriano: The One That (Luckily) Got Away
Posted by Pat Gallen, Wed, July 22, 2009 07:23 AM | Comments: 22
Posts
It was two-and-a-half years ago when Alfonso Soriano was the crème de la crème of the MLB off-season. The former Yankee, Ranger, and National searched for big money at a time when the wallets of owners were seemingly limitless.
During the winter of 2006, the Philadelphia Phillies were one of the teams vying for the services of the second baseman-turned-outfielder. In his one season in Washington, Soriano bashed a career high 46 home runs, while stealing 41 bases. He became just the fourth player in history to join the 40-40 club. In that same year, Soriano also belted 51 doubles, making him the only player to hit 40 homers, steal 40 bases, and smack 40 doubles. Needless to say, teams were hot for Fonzie. 
Following that ridiculous 2006 campaign, Soriano turned down a $70 million deal from the Nationals. Declining a boatload of cash happened to be a wise choice. As the Phillies were believed to have offered $98 million shortly after, which of course, he laughed at, the Cubs came in with a whopper of a deal. In November of ’06, Soriano signed on the dotted line of an eight-year, $136 million deal to play for a club that hadn’t won a title since the early days of yore. After two-plus hack-filled Soriano seasons, the Cubs still long for that elusive World Championship.
Looking back, it was perhaps one of the greatest non-moves ever made by the Phillies. In his first year with Chicago, the left fielder put up decent stats, but nothing even remotely close to those previously. His porous defense, coupled with his fading bat, makes Soriano one of the biggest busts in baseball history. And the Phillies nearly acquired this guy.
Hindsight is always 20-20, but this one was a no-brainer. The Phillies declined to take on that sort of money, therefore keeping Pat Burrell entrenched in left field. In 2007, the Phils made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, laying the groundwork for a World Series title in 2008. They did all of that by keeping the nucleus of Burrell, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, and others, together. If the Phillies had allowed Soriano to hogtie them with his ridiculous monetary demands, the crew that won Philly a title may have looked much different. Ergo, the results may not have been as tremendous.
Presently, Soriano is hitting just .243 for the Cubs as the team struggles to find a spark offensively. His power numbers are down as his swing gets longer, plus, he has been riddled with injuries during his tenure with Cubbies. Had the Phils gone overboard to sign Soriano, there would have been no Burrell, and certainly no Raul Ibanez. In addition, with that massive contract, forget about adding Roy Halladay at the trade deadline. That sort of deal may have also been a killer as the Phils look to extend Shane Victorino and others as of now.
Once in a while, it’s the moves you don’t make that make the most sense. This was certainly one of them.
Posts: 0 Tom G
and some still question if there is a GOD!
This IS proof enough, and he is a PHILLIES Phan.
Posted: 07:50 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 NJ
Remember A LOT of fans were angry we didn’t boot Burrell and give this guy that extra year he wanted and the Cubs were prepared to give… Rearviewmirror still looks pretty good.
Posted: 08:15 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Brooks
Looking at the LAA boxscore, I noticed Tori Hunter’s name, usually batting after Bobby Abreau in the lineup.
Not a fan of these oversized contracts, I could not help but remember that Bobby signed for $5 mil while Tori Hunter cashed in. Unbelievable in that Hunter and Abreau are 1 year apart (Bobby was born in 74, Hunter in 75), Hunter has 1 season where he hit over 30 hrs, 2 seasons where he knocked in over 100 rbi and his career batting average is .274. He is sporting an average of .305 this year but he is currently on the DL.
Abreau has more career HR’s, has knocked in 100 or more runs in 8 seasons, has a career batting average of .300, has never seen a stint on the DL – Bobby has played in over 150 games for the last 12 years. His numbers are far better than Tori Hunters but notice the salary discrepancy – Hunter will be receiving over 3 times as much than Bobby. On the same team, hell when healthy, batting right behind Bobby in the lineup (usually). How difficult would that have to be?
Posted: 08:33 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 ed 2
Don’t forget carlos lee the same summer
Posted: 08:44 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Matt
i remember all the shit 950 and 610 callers talked when the phils didnt sign soriano. Good work phils….
Posted: 08:47 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Ari
I guess once he stopped juicing his production dropped off.
Posted: 08:50 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
Yea.. I was going to say Carlos Lee too.. at the time, they both signed something like TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE contracts in the history of baseball ..
The only good signing was Carlos Beltran… maybe Torii Hunter, but I don’t know what his $$$ was..
Soriano, Lee, Vernon Wells, etc.. lots of bad contracts out there, which is why its so nice to have Victorino and Werth
Letting Rowand walk was a smart move too, obviously
Posted: 09:23 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
Yeah Soriano definitely was on the juice for a few seasons. 46 homeruns? ok sure pal….
He is still a VERY good player, but he isnt the power monster top 5 player in all of baseball that he used to be.
Posted: 09:38 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Aaron
I think you are a little tough on Soriano here. Pretty sure if he didnt play hurt and he was healthy he would be putting up those numbers again. Burrel may have been a fan favorite but he got more jeers than cheers if you ask me.
Posted: 09:58 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 1314 Pat Gallen
Aaron, if Soriano was here on the third year of an 8 year deal, limping around the bases the same way Burrell did, he’d be getting it a lot worse. Especially when you figure he’s owed somewhere around $95 million more until the end of his contract.
That could have really hamstrung this organization.
Posted: 10:08 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Miles
Just to expand on Pat’s thoughts here….
The real issue at hand here is really if these monster contracts are worth it at all. And will the teams that give them out ever wise up? I mean some of these players (Lee, Hunter, Miguel Cabrera) have been pretty productive but the vast majority of these guys (Zito, Soriano, Wells, Magglio Ordonez) are nothing short of franchise killers. Even contracts like Sarge Jr’s (something like 5 years 50 million I believe) are just terrible. He’s not even in the starting lineup right now.
A team like the Jays overpaid for AJ Burnett, BJ Ryan, and Vernon Wells all within the period of a couple years. Burnett ended up being pretty good but then left for the Yanks, the Jays are desperately trying to get Wells off the books, and they just WAIVED BJ Ryan.
The point is that the massive contracts are just WAY too high risk. For guys like Teixera, it seems like a sure thing, but you never know what injuries will do. Oh, yeah, and then there’s the fact that these guys know that they will never get another big contract so it’s not like it really matters how hard they train/work after the big deal is in place.
Posted: 10:38 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Morris Buttermaker
Since his name was mentioned, I will going on my rant about him. Aaron Rowand. When he got ready to go to the game each day, he grabbed his hat, glove, a pack of Marlboros and a short length of tube to blow smoke up everybody’s ass. I used to call him “Mr. Intense Strike Out.” He would strike out looking and then make a real intense face. Yea, I know, he ran into a wall once. But I was on vacation when that happened. So missed all of the hype. And then when he left the Phillies, he said he wanted to go to a winner, so he went to the San Francisco Giants for a ton of money. And he came up so small in the playoff series against the Rockies- 1 for 12 with 4 strikeouts, but the 1 hit was a solo homer.
But I was one of the people who thought the Phillies should have gone after Soriano. I guess there is a reason he has played on so many teams in such a short time period and was forced to go to Japan for a while. So I am willing to admit I was wrong, and I am incredibly glad the Phillies did not sign him.
Posted: 10:53 AM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Ed 2
I thought only Charlie Manual and Tom Selleck went to Japan to play baseball?
Posted: 12:15 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 130 Amanda Orr
Another awesome article, Pat. I almost forgot about Soriano. Worked out for the Phillies.
Also weren’t the Phillies looking at Milton Bradly last year before they got Raul? Another good non-move.
Posted: 12:36 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 1314 Pat Gallen
Ed 2: Mr. Baseball is an underrated baseball movie, good stuff.
Amanda: I believe they may have kicked the tires on Bradley, but i’m not sure it was anything more. Everything the Phils touch lately has turned to gold.
Posted: 12:52 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Kennedy
If I was training Baseball G.M.s, I would give them one golden rule to live by. Don’t sign anyone who doesn’t play amazing defense to a $90,000,000.00 or above contract (obviously pitchers are an exception). Soriano was so overpriced, a marginal outfielder, mid-level power, good speed but going on 31. A backloaded deal for an aging player who’s game depended largely on speed, it must have been obvious they weren’t going to be getting a high quality of play for the last few years. Corner outfielders who can hit 25 – 30 HRs aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, but they aren’t exactly rare. I still don’t know how Adam Dunn has avoided signing a moronic mega-deal, could it be that G.M.s finally learned (and for the Giants not to sign him last winter was nearly criminal, 3yrs 30 Million would have bought them an offense). Adam Dunn=Poor man’s Manny Ramirez.
Posted: 01:15 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Joel V
One of the greatest NON-MOVES the Phils ever made????
.299 33 hrs in 2007
.280 29 hrs in 2008
You mean to tell me you wouldn’t take that???
LOL!
Posted: 05:54 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Whack8888
Yeah the mega deals are so risky. Unless the guy performs exactly at or above the level you expect him to, and are paying him to, your franchise can just be in the crapper for a long long time. Even organizations like San Fran and the Cubs who have a decent amount of money to throw around can get messed up by it. As the cubs look for their long elusive World Series win, they will have to wonder if this Soriano deal is the reason they cant get it done.
Also what is with guys in their late 20s etc. getting tons of money and tons of years for a contract? I would rather the Phillies paid a decent price for a guy in his late 20s or so, but cut down on the years. For instance, 8 million a year is a bit much for Victorino, but what if we only got him for 3 years? That way, if his production goes in the crapper at some point, it is not one of these franchise killing deals. Though I suppose 5 years at 5 million is better — haha, I dont know what I am talking about
Posted: 07:24 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 NJ
Problem as teams like the Yanks know better than anyone is your paying for what a guys done and some guys just aren’t going to deliver the numbers they have previously, Soriano being a prime example.
Posted: 07:32 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Aaron
lol just saying when it comes down to it he signed a big deal, if he can come on the field and be productive at all than he is going to be out there and not ride the bench and be a complete waste of money. the weight of that contracts weighs on him a bit than he likes i bet. if one of these coming years he comes into the season healthy and remains that way and if the cubs could do the impossible like winning the world series i bet you wouldnt be so down on him.
Posted: 07:56 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 Joel V
I don’t think anyone is taking the Citizens Bank Park factor and the strength of this lineup into account. It’s no secret that both factored into Ibanez’s career season this year along with Aaron Rowand’s career yr before he left! Taking both of those players into account, you would then have to believe that if Soriano played here, you can add 5-10 hrs ,10-20 rbis, and at least a few points to his batting avg. to his final totals the last couple of years. And that’s at a minimum!
Posted: 09:43 PM on July 22, 2009
Posts: 0 SuperFan
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Posted: 11:40 AM on July 23, 2009