Soriano joins 40/40 club

[tdarko]

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what's so great about playing for the Nationals? They suck. Also, did Soriano have an epiphany and suddenly realize playing left field is awesome compared to second base?

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I don't know, doesn't he suck at both?

[Scary_Tiger]

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crockpot,

Do you agree with UCF that steroids is a major cause of contract yearsor do you have other reasons?

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Isn't the only reason people think this because people that perform well in their contract years get big contracts and get noticed? No one will bring up Derek Lowe or Pedro Martinez when they talk about big contract years. But everyone will bring up Beltre and Loiaza for the next decade.

Good players have good years frequently. Most MLB players have good years occasionally. When a MLB player has a good year in their contract year they tend to get overvalued by the market, and then disappointed fans start talking about contract year performance when it turns out Adrian Beltre isn't Barry Bonds, and is in fact still Adrian Beltre.

[Boris]

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what's so great about playing for the Nationals? They suck. Also, did Soriano have an epiphany and suddenly realize playing left field is awesome compared to second base?

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I don't know, doesn't he suck at both?

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Well to be honest I never understood the rap against Soriano's defense. I've watched a fair number of games where Soriano played and he seemed OK to me. Certainly not like a Todd Walker where it seemed like EVERY time I watched him play he made bonehead mistake.

But I think we can both agree that at the start of the season Soriano was pissed about playing left field.

[Boris]

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...but just know that you have know clue what kind of work that man has put in to achieve the year that he has.

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That's just my point td! I think he is putting in more effort and hard work this year because he's gunning for a fat FA contract! It just seems like too much of a coincidence that he goes from a +hitters environment to a -hitters environment and has a career year. I think the guy is a great baseball player too. But I would be wary if I was a GM looking to sign him.

edit: the agent comment was tongue in cheek.

[Jack of Arcades]

Soriano is pretty bad at 2B, but he's probably not the worst guy there. Still, he was getting older and he's got a pretty good bat that a move off of second could prolong his career and maybe even strengthen it (which is what might have happened).

He's a little above average in left field.