SORIANO TO CHICAGO? FOR HOW MUCH??
[November 19th] -- From the sounds of things, it's official.
If it is, whoo - boy.
ESPN Radio in Chicago is reporting that the Chicago Cubs have signed Alfonso Soriano to a ....
... get this ....
EIGHT YEAR, $136 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT. For those of you without a calculator handy, that works out to $17 million a year until the year 2014.
Soriano will be 38 years old when his contract expires.
Um, I just don't know what to say. I'm not upset that he's not going to be here next year -- even at $13 million a year, he would have siphoned off too much of a young team's maturing payroll. That $17 million could buy the Nats two, maybe even three "plus" starting pitchers. But, man! Just when you think that the owners are regaining some sense of business acumen, something like this happens.
The Chicago Cubs' fans got screwed.
In two or three years, Soriano's skills will begin to deteriorate, and by the year 2011 or so, he's going to be a .260-30-80 below-average outfielder.
Making $17 million dollars a year.
All I can figure is that the Tribune Company, owners of the Cubs, are in the process of selling the team, and don't have to worry about Soriano's contract years and years from now.
And years.
There is also that "draft choice" thing. Remember how we were all saying that two first round picks were more than enough payment for Soriano? Well, because the Cubs had a worse record than the Nationals, their #1 pick is off-limits. Looks like the Nats will get the sandwich pick and the Cubs second round choice.
unbelievable.
For a more well-versed look at the whole "draft choice" scenario, click here to read the Farm Authority's take on what might happen. They don't call them the "authority" for nothing.
Good Yellowstone Pics, by the way--Sohna IS JEALOUS.
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