Deal for Soriano Signals New Ownership for Cubs
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By MURRAY CHASS
The New York Times
November 20, 2006
News reports in recent weeks have indicated that the Tribune Company may sell its newspapers and its baseball team, and a deal the Cubs have concluded with a free agent lends credence to that likelihood. If Tribune were going to hold onto the Chicago Cubs, the Cubs would not be signing Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year contract for $136 million.
Although the deal had not been reported to the commissioner’s office, a baseball official with knowledge of the Soriano negotiations and an executive of another club said yesterday that his agent, Pat Rooney, had reached agreement with the Cubs, and that only a physical remained for the deal to become official.
Jim Hendry, the Cubs’ general manager, declined to confirm or deny the deal, and Rooney did not return telephone calls.
The Soriano agreement comes on the heels of a five-year, $75 million contract the Cubs negotiated with their free-agent third baseman, Aramis Ramírez. The presence of Soriano and Ramírez in the Cubs’ lineup will please the team’s new manager, Lou Piniella.
Dusty Baker, Piniella’s predecessor, may very well ask why the Cubs didn’t spend that kind of money during his four years as their manager. But spending that kind of money has never been the Tribune Company’s style, nor the style of Andy MacPhail, whose resignation as the Cubs’ president and chief executive is effective today.
The timing of MacPhail’s departure and Soriano’s signing might be coincidental, but it’s hard to believe that MacPhail would have authorized the amount of money or number of years. It seems that someone in the Cubs’ hierarchy has given Hendry the green light to offer uncharacteristically large sums of money, knowing that the Tribune Company won’t be paying the bills for much longer.
Take the Ramírez contract as an example of that likelihood. The Cubs are paying Ramírez a $5 million signing bonus, but that sum will basically come off his first-year salary, which will be $8 million instead of $13 million.
His salary will then escalate to $14 million, $15.65 million and $15.75 million, with a player option to follow for 2011 at $14.6 million and a mutual option for 2012 with a buyout of $2 million.
The Tribune Company won’t mind at all if someone else pays those escalated salaries, as well as the average of $17 million a year Soriano’s contract reportedly will cost.
With his new contract, Soriano climbs into the salary stratosphere occupied by the player he was traded for less than three years ago. That would be Alex Rodriguez, the $252 million star the Texas Rangers sent to the Yankees in February 2004.
Soriano was an $800,000 player when he was traded for Rodriguez. Now he has the fifth-largest contract in baseball history, topped by only those of Rodriguez, Derek Jeter ($189 million), Manny Ramírez ($160 million) and Todd Helton ($141.5 million).
Like the other four players, Soriano has protection against being traded over his wishes. The Cubs’ contract gives him veto rights over trades.
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Soriano is an offensive force, possessing an uncommon blend of power and speed. With the Nationals last season — they acquired him from Texas last December — he hit a career-high 46 home runs and had 41 stolen bases, two fewer than his career high.
But he presented a problem for the Nationals because they had a second baseman, José Vidro, and Soriano initially refused to move to left field. Manager Frank Robinson finally prevailed, and Soriano wound up leading the National League in outfield assists with 22, six more than the next-highest total. But he also committed 11 errors, most among N.L. outfielders, for a .969 fielding percentage, which ranked him 32nd among 34 defensively ranked outfielders.
There was talk yesterday that the Cubs may use Soriano, who will turn 31 in January, in center field as a replacement for Juan Pierre, also a free agent. But some baseball executives were incredulous at that prospect.
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They also questioned the size of the package the Cubs gave Soriano, saying it was far too much for a leadoff hitter. That kind of money, they suggested, should be saved for a middle-of-the-lineup hitter, a run producer like Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez.
Soriano has driven in more than 90 runs in each of the past five seasons, but in his most productive seasons he knocked in 102 and 104, an impressive total for a leadoff hitter, but not necessarily for a $17 million hitter. |
