Soriano- Are you kidding me?

[BadKarma]

Tonight Alfonso Soriano showed just how far he is willing to go to not move to the outfield. He was penciled in as the leadoff batter and playing in LF. He never even showed up onto the field. Frank Robinson had to make a last second defensive change to get another player onto the field for Soriano.

This is a bad example of what professional sports is coming to. Soriano knows that his value is in being one of the top power hitting infielders in the game, if he moves to the outfield, he will just be considered average and not worth as much come contract time. As it is Soriano received the highest ever arbitration amount of $10 million for this year. The Nats are giving him until Thursday to play the OF, or they will be drafting a letter to request he be placed on the disqualified list. If placed there, he will not receive any money while sitting out games, and will still be property of the Nats next year, as this year would not count as service to the team. I truly hope that if it comes down to it, he will be placed on the disqualified list, MLB needs to send a message to the players that they will not tolerate blatant insubordination from the players.

I can not fathom that a man playing a game for a living, and earning boat loads of money while doing it, will not at least try to help his team out. I guess he is showing his true character. Maybe I am missing something, does anybody else see where Soriano's actions are good or have any merit to them?

[Greerman29]

Someone needs to tell soriano that he's not good enough to pull crap like this.

[DoubleX]

Soriano's behavior is ridiculous, but Jim Bowden should receive some of the blame here, in making a trade for a guy like Soriano and then planning on moving him to a corner OF spot without getting any kind of assurances from Soriano that he would happily do that. A good GM would have better measured Soriano's willingness to cooperate and not arrogantly assumed that Soriano would just follow management's instructions, especially after Soriano has been publically adamant for years about not moving to the OF. You don't make that kind of trade without having a good idea that the player will not be a problem. Very poor job by Bowden.

[iPod]

You have to have a kind of weird, perverse respect for a guy who is willing to be that much of a jackass to Frank Robinson though. Gutsy stuff...

[Biggtone23]

He's a second basemen and has been since his rookie year. He didnt want to move to the outfield for the Rangers or Yankees (who wanted him to replace Bernie before he was traded) what made the Nationals think he would move for them?

Its not like he chose to go to the Nationals, he was traded there. This was a stupid move for the Nationals who are now getting exactly what they deserve. They made the trade because they wanted to make a splash in the winter meeting headlines and they didnt care how they did it.

You may call them the Nationals but they're still acting like the Expos.

[Ubiquitous]

Soriano's the bad guy because his management is a bunch of fools who treated him like a machine. Everybody and there sister knew that Soriano didn't want to play the outfield, yet Bowden went ahead and traded for him. Then Soriano states it again that he doesn't want to play the outfield. So what do they do? They ignore him and pencil him out in LF anyway. Personally I wouldn't be shocked if this whole stupid debacle wasn't caused by some sort Bud Selig bribe to Tom Hicks. Rangers didn't want Soriano, he was probably going to get non-tendered and then the MLB owned Nats come along on a white horse and save the Rangers by giving the Rangers two good players for a guy who made it very clear he didn't want to be used in the role the NAts were going to use him in.

[BadKarma]

True, some of the blame for this should go to the management of the Nats, but it is my understanding that Frank Robinson had a meeting with Soriano earlier to talk about the move to the outfield, and Soriano did not give them the impression that he would just not out and out play there no matter what. I can almost see if Soriano had said then, in a closed door meeting, that he would not play OF no matter what, so don't even put him in the line up as such, but I don't belive that that was what happened. Instead, he sees that he is penciled in as the starting LF for the night, then just refuses to go out at gametime, didn't say anything to anybody, just didn't show up. That is unacceptable. I guess he just wanted the Nats to look like a bunch of fools. They already do a well enough job of that on their own, definately don't need Soriano's help there. In my eyes, that was a totally immature and classless act on his part.

Edit- here is Robinson's statement from the article-

Robinson sat down privately with Soriano for 20 minutes before the game to explain the team's position.

"If he's going to play here, he's going to have to be out in left field," Robinson said. "He said he's ready to play, he needs to play, he's ready for the season, and I penciled him in the lineup in left field."

[Ubiquitous]

Thats Frank's version and it doesn't really look like Frank is admitting that Soriano was willing to play OF. Soriano has made many statements from the very beginning that he did not want to play in the OF.

To me it looks like Frank basically sat down Alfonso and laid down the law to him. My way or the highway, Soriano didn't back down.

[Nails]

True, some of the blame for this should go to the management of the Nats, but it is my understanding that Frank Robinson had a meeting with Soriano earlier to talk about the move to the outfield, and Soriano did not give them the impression that he would just not out and out play there no matter what. I can almost see if Soriano had said then, in a closed door meeting, that he would not play OF no matter what, so don't even put him in the line up as such, but I don't belive that that was what happened. Instead, he sees that he is penciled in as the starting LF for the night, then just refuses to go out at gametime, didn't say anything to anybody, just didn't show up. That is unacceptable. I guess he just wanted the Nats to look like a bunch of fools. They already do a well enough job of that on their own, definately don't need Soriano's help there. In my eyes, that was a totally immature and classless act on his part.

Edit- here is Robinson's statement from the article-

Robinson sat down privately with Soriano for 20 minutes before the game to explain the team's position.

"If he's going to play here, he's going to have to be out in left field," Robinson said. "He said he's ready to play, he needs to play, he's ready for the season, and I penciled him in the lineup in left field."

That's not what the Washington Times had.

Despite their attempts to convince Soriano to have a change of heart, club officials knew before game time he would not take the field. Robinson met with his disgruntled player for 15 minutes in the early afternoon, during which time Soriano politely but firmly stood his ground.

Sorry, but I don't feel bad for the Nats in this case at all. I could see it if he made this decision last minute, but Soriano has had this stance for years. This is pure ignorance on Bowden's part.

[BadKarma]

So, is it your position that an employee of a company does not have to listen to management? That an employee will tell management where and when he will work? When it comes down to it, that is what a baseball "player" is, he is an employee of the team (company). When an employee tells his supervisors that he is going to do what he wants to do, not what the company wants him to do, that is insubordination. For the stability of the company, that individual must be made accountable for his actions, less others think that they also can do the same thing. If Soriano gets away with this, it will set a precedent for other players to do the same thing, or something similiar. You may say that it isn't Soriano's fault that he was dealt to the Nats, and you are right. However, it is his choice to play professional baseball, and along with that choice he has to take whatever comes along with that job, or find another source of work. Heaven forbid if Soriano actually had to make a sacrifice for his company something most people do daily for theirs.

[ElHalo]

Maybe I am missing something, does anybody else see where Soriano's actions are good or have any merit to them?

Not in the best interests of the team, certainly, but I share his concern. Once you get moved off of a skill position like 2B, it's very rare to see a guy moved back there. He's a free agent after this season.

As a 2Bman, Soriano can probably net in the range of $11-12 mill a year. As a left fielder, he'll be lucky to get $6. That's a lot of money to give up just for the good of a team he's only going to play for for one season.

[Ubiquitous]

Employees are not slaves to their employers. If you ask an employee with an accounting degree to be a doctor or a lawyer then you as a employer are in the wrong. If you as an employer give an employee work that would take 3 days to do but only give him 1 then you as employer risk jeopardy.

In this case Soriano is not free to pursue his career in other avenues. Major league baseball has baseball sown up. A player cannot go to say japan without first clearing waivers here, and if they are under contract here or if a team owns the rights to a player then they have to allow it. Soriano cannot simply wish to play for a minor league team either since again MLB owns his contract. The Nats would have to release him from his contract to let him go free to pursue other baseball avenues. Something from the articles they do not wish to do. BAseball and MLB as its head is a monopoly. If one is skilled in baseball and in the system one cannot simply choose another avenue to ply ones craft.

[BadKarma]

You are exactly right Halo, that is why he is making this stance. That was one of my points on why he was doing in this in my initial post. It is sad when you have to suffer through only making $6-7 million a year, when most people will never see that amount in their lifetime.

[Ubiquitous]

ElHalo brings up a good point. In terms of economics this isn't simply a transfer of position but a paycut for Soriano. By accepting this transfer he is damaging his worth in the future marketplace. On top of that the Nats refuse to "fire" Soriano. Instead they will keep him from trying to earn a living elsewhere.

BadKArma you asked if an employee does not have to listen to management. And yes they do, but in return management cannot keep the employee from looking for employement elsewhere. In baseball its different because they are monopoly. To me if the Nats want to fire him I would say go right ahead. you are well within your rights to fire an employee that doesn't want to do the job you expect them to do. But to keep him from working elsewhere, i find that unacceptable.

[Ubiquitous]

You are exactly right Halo, that is why he is making this stance. That was one of my points on why he was doing in this in my initial post. It is sad when you have to suffer through only making $6-7 million a year, when most people will never see that amount in their lifetime.

Thats because most people will never have the skills necessary to earn 6-7 million dollars a year.