Soriano is killing it again with his bat this year like usual. He has 19 HRs 58 RBIs a .274 avg. and .827 OPS. That's perfect numbers for a cleanup guy. Batting has never been the problem for Alfonso but a lot of people will tell you he's a below average fielder including me but I was surprised to learn that this is not the case. This year playing LF Soriano has been worth 3 runs above average and has also saved 3 runs above average from LF. It's a fluke right? Think again. Over his career as in LF Soriano has been worth 38 runs above average fielding wise and has averaged 3 runs saved above average. So it's easy to see that Soriano is actually an above average player in the field. The other issue a lot of people point to, his huge contract. Soriano is making an annual salary of $18 mill over this season and through 2014. Before you explode, reports say that the Cubs are willing to eat almost all of his salary just to get him out. I've even heard they'll pay his whole contract except for $3 million. That could be huge value because it's not going to take any good prospects whatsoever to get it done. The only drawback is that he is 36 years old and will be 38 when his deal expires. He hasn't declined really yet but it's still a risk but they took the same risk with Wandy Rodriguez. Also he has a full no-trade clause but I don't think he'd miss a chance to join a pennant race.
I think this is currently plan C for the Pirates behind Shin-Soo Choo and Hunter Pence (John Perroto reported we're in on both) and it appears we can't match on a Victorino trade so he's out. Even though we haven't been linked to him I think he'a being considered. Remember, Wandy to the Pirates wasn't talked about much either until it happened. Contrary to popular opinion I think this would be a perfect target for the Bucs if the Cubs eat a lot of salary and I'm kinda hoping it happens unless we can get one of the mentioned above really cheap.
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