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What About the Other Guy?

© Harold Friend

Little has been written or said about Alfonso Soriano. The New York media have treated his departure as if he were a utility infielder in pursuit of regular work. Soriano is one of the best players in the game who is still in search of a position. He does not always keep his mind in the game and is sometimes taken by surprise when a ground ball is hit to him, but his skills and reflexes are so great that he usually makes the play anyway.

Early in 2003, when Soriano was doing extremely well, he was being compared to Henry Aaron and Ernie Banks, two great hitters who relied on their powerful wrists, not just their muscles, to drive the ball. Soriano has incredibly powerful wrists to go along with fantastic reflexes, which allow him to get around on anyone’s fastball. Remember the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series? Soriano blasted a Curt Schilling 0-2 pitch for what might have been the hit that every one remembered but now is merely an afterthought to the ninth inning.

But the other side of the coin is that Soriano is undisciplined and some believe unteachable. He is not patient, the strike zone means little to him, and he swings at the first delivery much too often. Pitchers see how far off the plate they can get him to chase, as Pedro Martinez and some Marlins pitchers did this fall. It was hoped that Don Mattingly, the new Yankees’ hitting coach, would be able to harness some of Soriano’s talent in a more productive manner. Now that task falls to Texas Rangers’ hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who has the longest tenure of any hitting coach in the majors (3).

What happens with A-Rod and the Yankees will be fascinating. Will the Yankees finally win the World Series? What will A-Rod contribute? Is he really going to be the third baseman long term? How will the vicious New York media affect A-Rod? Will A-Rod break Maris’ American League home run record? Will A-Rod retire with the most career home runs?

Regardless of the answers, those who say the Yankees acquired A-Rod inexpensively are wrong, and not because they are paying him about $16 million a year. The Yankees traded a superstar for a superstar. They will miss Soriano.

(1) http://www.nydailynews.com/11-05-2002/sp...

(2 )http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/frank_...

(3) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/sc...