Cubs apparently come to terms with Soriano

[nick]

Just head on over to rotoworld for the source.


I posted my thoughts at another site I'm apart of:

Pitching staff troubles or not, it's a great signing IN A SENSE and Cubs fans have the right to be excited.

Hell, any team would be excited to have signed the premiere FA, and that's pretty obvious.

That being said, this is the biggest signing we've made in a long ass time. That's one thing that's for sure. Now I know it's a WHOLE lot of money, and we're going to try getting out of it by the 4th or 5th year I'm sure, but it shows we're serious about winning. It's going to attract other free agents, in this offseason alone. And... it ain't my money being spent here.

Also, frankly I don't think I'll care how bad the contract may put the position of the franchise in 5 years if we win a world series sometime before then. If we're in bad financial state because of Soriano come then, but we've won a World series which is obviously our goal... so be it.

We do need about 2-3 more arms, no doubt... but honestly, there's a ton of teams in situations just like we are. The Phillies for example are in that situation (in my eyes, atleast... they could use an arm or two), and they were going hard after Soriano too.

One thing I still think we need too, is a leadoff man. A potential 3-4-5 including Aramis, Lee, Soriano (not neccesarily in that order) is just filthy, and it shouldn't be wasted because Soriano has to lead off.

The only thing that came to a suprise was the years, but honestly... he was looking for a 6-8 year deal. 15-17 million range. He got a Beltran deal, essentially.

Sometimes you need to make moves like this. The contract is in no way great in the longrun, but on this market I don't know what people expected. He instantly gives us a major boost, and he is going to last atleast 5-6 years. He may not run the entire course of his contract, but I'd have a good feeling he's going to mash.

I'm pretty happy.

[General]

Disgusting.

[Bob Sacamento]

Disgusting.

Agreed, complete waste of money. And apparently we're going to waste his talent too by leading him off. In 4 years from now when there is still no WS title on the Northside, and we've got a statue in Aramis playing 3B with a 35yo Soriano collecting 18 million and playing a poor RF. And both handcuff us from making other moves, Cubs fans better not come *****ing and moaning.

[DravenX]

Another note on Soriano.

Alfonso Soriano plans to ask the Cubs for permission to play winter ball.
Soriano hasn't played winter ball since before establishing himself as a major leaguer. The Cubs might prefer he didn't risk an injury so soon after signing a $136 million contract.