Phil Rogers let out this good one yesterday...
Michael Young for Alfonso Soriano.
Young wants out of Texas and the Cubs want out of Soriano's contract.
Texas owes $16 million to Young for each of the next 3 seasons. The Cubs owe $18 million for each of the next 4 seasons.
The Rangers need a DH.
The Cubs need a second baseman.
Here are two reasons that this won't happen and could never happen.
First off...Michael Young probably can't play 2nd base anymore. He hasn't played there since the 2003 season at which point he moved to shortstop where he hasn't played in 2 years. He's a third baseman or a DH. Plain and simple. On top of that, Young will probably provide less to the Cubs than Soriano would. While he hasn't attempted many stolen bases over the last couple of seasons, Soriano, while slower is still a potential base-stealing threat. If Young were to put on a Cubs uniform, I can pretty much guarantee that he will, at most, have about 2 stolen base attempts this year. Soriano is, even with a down year last year, a better hitter than Young. Young appears to be a clutch hitter, and has set all sorts of franchise records down in Texas, but I find it extremely unlikely that can be of more value to the Cubs than Alfonso Soriano right now.
Second, and read this carefully, the Rangers traded Soriano away in 2006 partially because they didn't want to get bogged down into a big, expensive, long-term contract with him which would likely extend far past his useful playing days, especially after getting screwed over by A-Rod. For the Rangers to trade away Michael Young for a player they weren't willing pay 5 years ago to play into his mid to late 30's is idiotic.
Yes, Young wants out of Texas. He doesn't want to be a DH. But that isn't a reason for the Rangers to do something stupid.
That being said, I'm not totally against a deal like this for one reason: If the Cubs were to acquire Michael Young, they would be more able to trade him to another team later down the line than if they held on to Soriano and tried to trade him in the next couple years. But that's it...if there was even a remote chance of this happening.
Now, to Phil Rogers defense, he didn't really say that the two teams were actually talking, but the mere fact that he mentioned this trade combination will likely spread around the blogosphere and other media outlets fairly quickly and lead to unnecessary anticipation and speculation. (Remember the Carlos Zambrano to the Yankees rumors?)
We are going to be stuck with Soriano for probably 1 to 2 more years, after which the Cubs will be able to unload him while paying for a good chunk of his remaining contract.
But I will continue to say, Alfonso Soriano will not finish his contract in a Cubs uniform.
