Yankees close to re-acquiring Alfonso Soriano

[ThomasTomasz]

The Yankees are desperate for power and the Cubs are looking to move veterans. That makes them a perfect trade partner. New York is on the verge of acquiring Alfonso Soriano from Chicago, Cubs manager Dale Sveum acknowledged on Thursday. He said the trade is "99 percent" done. It is not complete, however.

Soriano, 37, is owed approximately $25 million through the end of next season. The Cubs will pick up most of that, and the money exchange will reportedly be structured in such a way that it will have minimal impact on the Yankees' efforts to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014. They did something similar when they acquired Vernon Wells from the Angels in March.

Because he has 10-and-5 rights, Soriano has full no-trade protection and needs to approve any trade. CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman says the trade will likely need commissioner Bud Selig's approval because of the substantial money that would change hands.

In 93 games this season, Soriano has hit .254/.287/.467 with 17 home runs. He has come on strong after a slow start, hitting 10 of those 17 homers in the last month. Soriano hit .262/.322/.499 (117 OPS+) with 32 homers last year, his best offensive season since 2008. He credits switching to a lighter bat for the increased production.

Coming into Thursday's game, the Yankees have gotten a .223/.266/.330 (62 OPS+) batting line from their left fielders and a .212/.299/.361 (80 OPS+) line from their DHs this season. Soriano could step in to fill either role. New York is also hitting .234/.306/.338 (84 OPS+) against left-handers while the righty-hitting Soriano has put up a .273/.340/.496 (118 OPS+) line against southpaws.

Soriano broke into MLB with the Yankees back in 1999. He hit .284/.322/.502 (114 OPS+) with 98 home runs and 121 steals in parts of five seasons in pinstripes before being traded to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez in February 2004. Soriano has played for the Nationals as well.

The Cubs are very much in "sell" mode right now. They traded Matt Garza to the Rangers on Monday and have previously moved Scott Feldman and Scott Hairston. Chicago is expected to receive a minor league pitcher from the Yankees for Soriano.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/e...-verge-of-acquiring-alfonso-soriano-from-cubs

 

[krulmichael]

Glad the Yanks are finally deciding to get younger.

:harbaugh:

 

[DJ Rhude]

:lol:

 

[Jayrock]

Gonna miss Sori. He's overpaid, but still a really good ballplayer and a great guy to have in the clubhouse. Loved watching him from the bleachers.

Even though his time was disappointing, I still enjoyed watching him. Possibly a HOFer too

 

[Goober]

Gonna miss Sori. He's overpaid, but still a really good ballplayer and a great guy to have in the clubhouse. Loved watching him from the bleachers.

Even though his time was disappointing, I still enjoyed watching him. Possibly a HOFer too

:homer:

Average HOF LF JAWS: 53.1
Alfonso Soriano's JAWS: 26.7

At 37 I'm sure he will close that gap. No problemo. Also note that the only reason that JAWS number isn't higher is because it includes Monte Irvin who spent most of his career in the Negro League.

 

[Senser81]

Gonna miss Sori. He's overpaid, but still a really good ballplayer and a great guy to have in the clubhouse. Loved watching him from the bleachers.

Even though his time was disappointing, I still enjoyed watching him. Possibly a HOFer too

Don't which is the worse comment...

1) Gonna miss Sori
2) enjoyed watching him
3) Possibly a HOFer

 

[Jayrock]

Don't which is the worse comment...

1) Gonna miss Sori
2) enjoyed watching him
3) Possibly a HOFer

Other than Hendry overpaying for him, Sori was a great player to have these past 6 years.

 

[Jayrock]

And tbh, I don't really like the move. Cubs have potential to be playoff contenders next year. If were paying all but $4m of his salary next year, why not keep him and try to win some games?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

And tbh, I don't really like the move. Cubs have potential to be playoff contenders next year. If were paying all but $4m of his salary next year, why not keep him and try to win some games?

serious?

 

[Jayrock]

serious?

Dead.

 

[EmpireWF]

Dead.

With what lineup?

 

[Woy]

I wouldn't give the Cubs until 2015 before playoffs are mentioned. Cardinals, Reds, and Pirates are all young and are gonna be good for a while.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Dead.

Based on what?

It's a total rebuild. Pirates are extremely young and not going anywhere. Reds have two regulars over 30 (and only one starting pitcher, who will be gone next year and replaced by Cingrani), and started three rookies last season. Cards have one old guy (Beltran), who will be gone next year.

All three teams are relatively young and way better than the Cubs. You can't make the payoffs if you finish fourth, which barring a complete breakdown or really bad luck from one of those three teams, is the best finish the Cubs can hope for in the Central, let alone the rest of the NL.

 

[Jayrock]

I didn't say they'd make it. To me, finishing with 3 or 4 games of the second wild card spot is worthy of being called a "playoff contender." I don't think we'd be any better than Cincinatti, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh, but I think we'd be over .500.

I just don't see the point in adding a scrub pitching prospect from NY when we could win some games next year.

Rizzo
Castro
Soriano
Lake?
Olt
Schierholtz
Castillo
Baez?

Cubs seem interested in a guy like Choo or Elsbury this offseason. If they could add Garza again and a bullpen arm or two, that's a playoff contending team IMO.

Obviously it wouldn't play out exactly like that but there's no reason it couldn't. Instead we're just going to suck for another season or two and wait for Olt, Castro, Rizzo, Baez, Soler, Almora, Alcantra, Bryant, etc in 2016-2017

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

At this point we don't even know who half the starters will be or what the rotation will look like next year, so it's pretty absurd to project them as playoff contenders when we have no idea what the team will look like. Even if they sign Choo & Garza, keeping Soriano wasn't going to put them over the top. They didn't compete with two of those guys this year, Choo or some other CF isn't going to make that much of a difference.

 

[FedEx227]

The exact opposite of what Theo and Jed are doing is signing guys like Choo, Ellsbury and Garza in the offseason. That's not in the plans, the goal is to create a team of cheaper, young, homegrown talent. it has nothing to do with paying 30+ year old free agents to expensive, mutliyear deals.

 

[Jayrock]

The exact opposite of what Theo and Jed are doing is signing guys like Choo, Ellsbury and Garza in the offseason. That's not in the plans, the goal is to create a team of cheaper, young, homegrown talent. it has nothing to do with paying 30+ year old free agents to expensive, mutliyear deals.

What they are doing is unloading salary at the expense of winning games to pay for a $500m renovation to Wrigley

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

go yanks

 

[FedEx227]

What they are doing is unloading salary at the expense of winning games to pay for a $500m renovation to Wrigley

Man, how can you be a fan of this team and still have absolutely no clue what they are trying to accomplish? Theo and Jed go out of their way to tell people exactly what they are trying to do.

They are building a self-sustaining, long-term successful baseball franchise by developing their team through inexpensive, cost-controlled, team-controlled young talent. See Braves, Atlanta. Cardinals, St. Louis. Rays, Tampa Bay.

I've said it before but Cubs fans (like you) don't deserve to have as strong of leadership as your franchise does. Jim Hendry was perfect for most of you. Moronic, short-sighted simpletons.

 

[Glenbino]

Man, how can you be a fan of this team and still have absolutely no clue what they are trying to accomplish? Theo and Jed go out of their way to tell people exactly what they are trying to do.

They are building a self-sustaining, long-term successful baseball franchise by developing their team through inexpensive, cost-controlled, team-controlled young talent. See Braves, Atlanta. Cardinals, St. Louis. Rays, Tampa Bay.

I've said it before but Cubs fans (like you) don't deserve to have as strong of leadership as your franchise does. Jim Hendry was perfect for most of you. Moronic, short-sighted simpletons.

Is there a team that JayRock is a fan of that isn't a perennial title contender in his eyes?

You guys should be used to this type of myopic posting from him by now. He's workes tirelessly over the years to earn those red reputation bars.