Sunday, July 30, 2006

Where will Alfonso Soriano go?

After hearing last week that deal that would send Soriano to the White Sox was "extremely close," we've heard just about nothing on the subject. Oh sure, there's still teams interested, but no word on what offers might be out there, or who the favorite to get him would be.

According to Jason Stark, there's really only 4 teams that are still in the market to get Soriano - the Angels, Twins, Dodgers, and Astros.

So which of those teams seems likely to pay the triple-retail price Bowden has yet to waver on? Uh, none of the above. But multiple sources all over the sport now say it's 100 percent certain Soriano will be traded.

Oh. That really clears it up.

There's really only a couple of things we know at this point - that the Nationals really want to trade Alfonso Soriano, and that they're asking for everything but the kitchen sink. And maybe even that.

I'm pretty sure that if the Twins would be willing to give up top prospect Matt Garza, they could land Soriano, but they're reluctant to do that. Which is a notion that I support entirely, because Garza is really good, and could very possibly help the Twins this year. The Twins have other solid pitching prospects that they could possibly deal, but unless Bowden dramatically lowers his asking price, they won't get it done.

Which leaves the Angels, in my mind, as the frontrunners. I've heard rumors that the Angels might looking at something like Ervin Santana and Erick Aybar for Miguel Tejada, but I still think Miggy will be staying put in Baltimore. Which would leave Soriano as the main target for the Angels. And make no mistake, they have the big-time names that make them capable of pulling off this deal (Howie Kendrick, Brandon Wood, etc.) The hangup, of course, is that Angels GM Bill Stoneman is a lot like Terry Ryan in that he's reluctant to trade top prospects.

So what does all of this mean? Well, I don't know, maybe nothing. Maybe the Nats will hang onto Soriano and we'll all be left wondering why no deal got done. But if I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Alfonso Soriano wearing an Angels uniform at this time next week. But at this point, it's all guesswork.

2 comments:

SAMO said...

Who cares about just Soriano! Tejada to the Rangers possibly???? WOWIE!

twins15 said...

Hadn't heard that rumor yet... who would the Rangers be able to give up that the Os might want in return?