Yanks already have a power hitting second baseman: Alfonso Soriano. Why are teams so chicken about moving fielders?

Alfonso Soriano September 10, 2013
By Keith Allison Wikimedia Commons

Alfonso Soriano started his career with the Yankees at second base, becoming the regular in 2001 at age 24.   Soriano could/should have had the 2001 World Series winning home run in game seven except that Mariano Rivera suffered the biggest blown save in major league history, blowing both the save and the game in the ninth inning in Arizona.

In 2002 Soriano had a 129 OPS+, led the American Conference in runs, hits, stolen bases, was third in MVP and won his first of three Silver Slugger awards as a second baseman.  After 2003 Soriano was traded to Texas for Alex Rodriguez and then to the Washington Nationals in 2006 where he was moved to left field and won the Silver Slugger there.  In his only season with the Washington team Soriano set the franchise season record for home runs with 46.

It was then on to the Chicago Cubs where he played left field almost exclusively.  Soriano returned to the Yankees during the 2013 season at age 37 but with the same body type and energy that he'd had a decade before.

So with Robinson Cano defecting to Seattle and with many more holes to fill than money can buy in this weak free agent market, why not move Soriano back to his original position?

Soriano will be 38 in 2014 but still younger than Derek Jeter and the Yankees are counting on Jeter to be their regular shortstop.  Soriano is also younger than Rodriguez who may be suspended for the season.  If not, then Rodriguez will play third.  So Soriano would fit right in with the other old timers.  It's worth considering.  Oh, wait, his fielding might suck.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  Good field/no hit players: who actually wants them?

Not the St. Louis Cardinals.  Last week they made that clear by changing shortstops from Pete Kozma to Jhonny Peralta...

Supposedly Peralta's fielding has been improving with age.  I don't know how that works.  It just adds to my lack of confidence in ever evolving fielding metrics.

Peralta can hit, Kozma cannot.  Kozma can field, Peralta not nearly so well.  St. Louis switched to the good hitting shortstop even though he is tainted by scandal and older.  In 2014 Peralta will be 32, Kozma 26...

For all the talk about all the runs that really good fielders can save teams, the teams do not seem to be buying it...

Or maybe the trade-off is judged too great by teams that they pretty much always side with hitting whenever possible.
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Albert Pujols became a free agent after the 2011 season.  I considered whether it made sense for the Yankees to sign Pujols even though the Yanks already had first baseman Mark Teixeira signed to a long term contract.  This touched on the old football question of whether a team should draft for need or the best available athlete.  I discussed Pujols with a friend, another Yankee fan, who asked where Pujols would play.  I suggested that he could return to the outfield where he had played for the Cardinals in 2002 and 2003 and was second in MVP both seasons.  My friend said that Pujols was now injury prone playing first base and that the outfield was out.  OK, I said, then move Teixeira to the outfield.  My friend became apoplectic.  Teixeira is an infielder, you cannot move an infielder to the outfielder.  I differed but you get the point.  Baseball thinking is locked in on many issues and this a big one.

A few years ago I noticed that the Yankee infielders were bigger than the outfielders.  Jeter, Rodriguez and Teixeira are all 6'3", Cano 6'.  Outfielders: Curtis Granderson 6'1", Nick Swisher 6', Brett Gardner 5'10".  But baseball has not evolved nearly as much as football or basketball on player specialization and size.  In football, it's unthinkable to switch a 300 pound defensive tackle with a 5'10" cornerback.  Or in basketball switch a 7 foot center with a 6'2" point guard.

But in heavy handed baseball the primary impediment is which arm is used to throw.  Lefties are limited to pitcher, first base and the outfield.  In baseball except for pitcher and catcher and lefties, the fielders are pretty much interchangeable or at least they ought to be.  Moving Soriano back to his original position even after nine years and at the age of 38 should not seem so bizarre, especially considering the dire needs of the Yankees.

The Yankee triumvirate of Hal Steinbrenner, Randy Levine and Brian Cashman have mismanaged the team so badly that even throwing money at the many problems seems insufficient.  This threesome filled the one non-hole that the team had: center field.  The Yanks had 30 year old Gardner but decided to replace him with a better 30 year old, Jacoby Ellsbury, who will receive $153 million over seven years.  I guess they considered Ellsbury the "best available athlete".  Maybe he was but not compelling enough for them to ignore need.  At least the they are resisting the urge to spend big bucks on Omar Infante, who will be 32 the day after Christmas.

After rejoining the Yankees in 2013 Soriano hit 17 home runs in 219 at bats, one every 12.9 at bats.  That rate for 550 at bats would produce 43 homers.  If Soriano got anywhere close to that, how bad would his fielding seem?

Who would Yankee fans rather have at second base in 2014: Omar Infante or Alfonso Soriano?  This Yankee fan prefers Alfonso Soriano.