Alfonso Soriano has the most homers in the majors since the Yankees obtained him last July. These days he is mostly a DH.
Yet, recently all Brett Gardner wanted to talk about was Soriano’s defense. Or more aptly, how hard Soriano is willing to work on that part of the game.
This was several hours before a game, about an hour before regular batting practice. Soriano was the lone player on the field, stationed in center. Pretty much once a series he does a drill in which he asks Yankees third-base coach Rob Thomson to shoot balls from a machine a couple hundred feet in the air — higher than you will see any ball hit in an actual game.
Soriano’s reasoning is that if he can track that ball, he can track any fly in an actual game. And after Soriano was a poor second baseman early in his career (particularly in his first Yankees stint), advanced metrics have suggested he turned himself into a more than adequate defender in left field.
Gardner was the only other Yankee not in the clubhouse on this day. He was watching Soriano chase flyball after flyball in the outfield. We watched together for a few minutes without much commentary and then Gardner turned and said: “How many guys who have made $200 million (actually $158 million) and done everything he has done in his career would be out there doing this kind of work? Let me tell you the answer — none. He did this in Houston last year after we were eliminated.
“It’s impressive. But that is him. I am telling you he is a great teammate. He does the work, always has a smile, never says a bad word and you look at him and you can never tell if we won or we lost a game. The same guy every day.”
Soriano will be in the odd spot on Tuesday and Wednesday of playing for the Yankees, but being mostly paid by the team in the other dugout, as the Cubs are in The Bronx for the first time since 2005 and just the second time ever. As part of the trade last July 26, the Cubs agreed to assume much of Soriano’s contract, including $13 million of the $18 million due this season — the last on Soriano’s eight-year, $136 million pact.
The Yankees gave up Corey Black to land Soriano, and Black went 4-0 with a 2.55 ERA in five High-A starts last year for Chicago and threw five no-hit innings in his first Double-A start this year.
Soriano, though, has an MLB-high 20 homers since joining the Yankees — two more than Mark Trumbo. After opening this season 0-for-17, Soriano has reheated. In his last eight games, Soriano is hitting .345 with a 1.130 OPS and three homers.
He is 38 and indicated he would like to play a few more years, specifically for the Yanks. His career, no matter when it ends, will make Hall-of-Fame voters look twice, though I suspect he will fall into that category of, “Wow, those numbers are impressive, but still not worthy of Cooperstown.” He has 409 homers and 288 steals. Only four other players have reached that combo and two are in the Hall (Willie Mays, Andre Dawson), one other would be (Barry Bonds) if not for his ties to illegal performance enhancers and one other is kind of, sort of still active (Alex Rodriguez). The Yankees, of course, traded Soriano to the Rangers to obtain Rodriguez after the 2003 campaign.
Soriano’s career has some similarities to Dawson’s. Both had power and speed, but were not patient hitters, and their on-base percentages reflect that (.321 for Soriano, .323 for Dawson). But Dawson’s highs were better — he actually won an MVP with the Cubs — and earned eight Gold Gloves.
Despite all that outfield work, no one is going to think defense when they think Alfonso Soriano.
Another royal letdown
Buck Showalter long praised the Yankees not for winning, but winning every year when that was the expectation. He would concur, yes, they had the money to solve problems, but the weight of success-or-else can break many teams.
“Winning is a lot easier than continuing to be able to win,” Showalter said.
Which brings us to the Royals. Kansas City went 86-76 last year, its first winning record since the 2003 club, managed by Tony Pena. And just its second since 1993. Yep, like clockwork, every 10 years, the Royals produce a winning record.
But the positive result last year combined with having so many of their key players such as Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon in their prime years made the Royals a chic pick to make the playoffs and maybe even more than that. When perennial-disappointment third baseman Mike Moustakas hit superbly in spring and rightie Yordano Ventura made the rotation as the talk of spring training with his 100-mph-plus fastball, the expectations only heightened for a team that has not made the postseason since 1985, by far the longest current drought.
Well, expectations come with a weight and scouts who have seen the Royals early this year do not see a team playing loose and well. They finished the weekend with the AL’s worst record (4-7). A bullpen that was a strength last year has been injured and ineffective this season. Aside from Perez, the offense has been subdued and, amazingly, had generated just one homer (by Gordon) in 11 games.
There obviously is a long way to go, but if the Royals are going to end their long playoff wait, they are going to have to deal better with the weight of expectations.
Pineda stars as Montero slumps in minors
In case you hadn’t noticed:
- While Michael Pineda has been thriving for the Yankees, Jesus Montero, heading into Monday, was hitting .200 with a .242 on-base percentage (but two homers) in his first eight games as a DH/first baseman for the Mariners’ Triple-A Tacoma team.
- The AL batting average with runners in scoring position was .226. The Yanks were tied for ninth at .213 with the Royals, which means there were five teams even worse — three from the AL East: Red Sox (.204), Rays (.197), Angels (.192), Blue Jays (.179), Astros (.162).
- Ten interesting players who failed to hit a homer in the first two weeks of the season: Domonic Brown, Robinson Cano, Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnacion, Prince Fielder, Matt Holliday, Andrew McCutchen, Wil Myers, Carlos Santana and Dan Uggla.