Soriano Speaks

I happened upon a really astonishing interview of Alfonso Soriano by Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Here is a sample quote:

Soriano said his knees are feeling good and his goal of not being on the disabled list all season is within reach.

"I'm very happy with myself because I said to myself in spring training I don't want to go back on the DL this year," he said. "So far I feel 100 percent."

Soriano is hitting .258 with 19 home runs and 59 RBIs. But he's hitting only .195 in August with one home run and four RBIs, and only .222 since June 1.

Soriano said it was "very tough" to concentrate because of the Cubs' poor play this season. He believes he can become a dominant player again, and has four years left on his contract to prove it.

"For players to have a good year, they have to have a good team," he said. "So it's very hard to have a good year when you don't have a good team. ... If we have a very good team, everybody can have a very good year."

So one might have thought the goal was to have a good year or to hit .300 or to hit 30 HRs or drive in 100 runs or occasionally catch flyballs and throw to the right base, but no, the idea was to stay healthy. The fact that he has put up atrocious numbers since the end of May, so bad that, for example, in tonight's game, the Padres starter obviously pitched around Xavier Nady - that's right, Xavier Nady! - to load the bases to get to the sure out Soriano has become.

Anyway , it is all his teammates' fault. Geez, tell that to Ernie Banks. If they had played better, he would have had a good year. But these mopes let him down, and you can see the results. Next year, if they play better, then maybe he will have a good year. I would have thought that earning $19 M this season and standing to collect $18 M for each of the next four years would have been sufficient for him to concentrate on baseball or at least not to blabber utter nonsense whenever he opens his mouth, but, alas, for your truly modern player, and possibly one of the most selfish players ever to put on a uniform, this is an insufficient incentive.

Anybody who thinks this guy should not be placed on unconditional waivers right now has some explaining to do. Lou, however, popped him right back in the #6 hole tonight.