JUPITER, Fla. – For a few years, Mets fans have been dreaming of Alfonso Soriano playing second base for them. For a few years before that, Soriano actually played that position for the Yankees.
Yesterday, though, Soriano may have moved even further away from both Met fantasy and Yankee reality when he took up his new position.
In left field.
Soriano temporarily ended his own controversy when he played eight innings in left for the Nationals in an exhibition game against the Cardinals yesterday.
Washington is attempting to move Soriano to the outfield, even though the player has played only second base in the majors for the last five years, seeing not even one game at any other position during that time. On Monday, Nationals GM Jim Bowden was quoted by the AP as saying that Soriano “refused to take the field.” Yesterday, Bowden chalked it up to perhaps “miscommunication or misunderstanding.”
At least for eight innings yesterday, though, Soriano appeared to be OK in his new spot. And he said after the game that he is prepared to play there all year.
“I hope,” he said. “I hope that I stay healthy and hope that they play me out there every day, because … I love the game.”
That’s not to say that Soriano-gate is necessarily over, though. Nationals manager Frank Robinson said he was “convinced it’s OK,” and Bowden said he was grateful for “the personal sacrifice,” but the GM admitted, “an issue’s never closed.”
Indeed, Bowden would not admit yesterday he shouldn’t have made the trade for Soriano but did say that “obviously if we knew his position would be what it was we wouldn’t have made the deal.” At this point, the Nationals could simply move Soriano somewhere other than left – to another team.
“My preference would be to keep him,” Bowden said. “We’re a much better team with him. That’s my preference. But I’ll never close the door ever on an opportunity to make everybody happy.”
Soriano said yesterday he did not ask for a trade in the last few days. Asked if he’d like to stay in Washington or would want a trade somewhere he can play second base, he replied, “I don’t know. I don’t make that decision.”
The second baseman/outfielder, who is making $10 million in his final year before free agency, also said that he played yesterday for reasons that didn’t have anything to do with potentially forfeiting his salary.
“It’s not the money,” Soriano said. “It’s about me, the love that I have for the game, the fans.”
With the Cardinals coming to bat in the bottom of the first inning yesterday, Soriano emerged from the Nationals’ dugout and jogged out to left field with a grin on his face. His first chance to field a ball came in the third inning when David Eckstein hit a single to left, not particularly hard. Soriano picked it up with no problem.
The next inning, he caught a pop-up in left from Albert Pujols.
Said Robinson, “He looked comfortable out there.”
