If You Had $136 Million in Your "How Much Will Alfonso Soriano Cost?" Office Pool, Congratulations!

BK:

Just read that and it's just amazing but right in line with what folks here were predicting for the annual salary at around $17M...but for EIGHT FREAKING YEARS??? If nothing the Cubbies will be interesting next year. But Soriano and Aramis will make for a great heart of the order...

I too would love to know just how much real interest the Dodger's showed. OK...now what? Are the Dodger's trying to build a WS winner or a team that is simply good enough to via for the NL West?

Everytime a big name goes elsewhere I start to doubt McCourt's desire to win the WS. I still say they both remind me of how those slimy AMWAY salespeople can, used to, be...something about them (mostly about her) strikes me as fake and not honest or genuine.

Just because I am paranoid does not mean people are not out to get me...hehehehe, ;)

Damn you, BK!! Stealing my headlines!! I'm trying to land a $2-3 million a year contract and you're not helping!! HAHAHA!

This is looking more and more like a trade for the Dodgers. I mean if they want to win next season.

mike

I'm glad the Dodgers didn't sign him for those years and that kind of money. I think history shows that those kind of monster contracts never pan out (certainly in Dodgers history anyway). We could sign 3 big-time players for the money that Soriano got. Baseball is a team game and I think having one guy command that much of a payroll leads to chemistry problems within a team. We need a bat, but I'm not sad to see this one get away.

Grumpy,

I understand your frustrations, but I think Ned did the right thing here. EIGHT YEARS? It might not have been the per year salary that scared Ned; it was those EIGHT YEARS.

In my mind there are only a handful of players worthy of that distinction. On offense: Pujols, A-Rod, Jeter, Big Papi (as a DH), to name a few. Soriano, and in my opinion, Beltran, are certainly not.

I don't know why the Cubs are spending all of that dough. They're still CURSED! What do they think? That they're the Red/White Sox? HAHA!!

Same here Dodgerskip. I'm glad they didn't pay out that kind of money and commitment in years for one player, especially one a caliber of Soriano. The Dodgers will do well just making a few trades and staying out of the AUCTION FRENZY. How good it must be to be a FREE AGENT and a FA's Agent this year!

Effectively, the market for tradeable players like Wells is going to be no easier than the FA market. Believe it or not, we're not the only team in baseball to miss out on Soriano, and we're not the only guys who are going to miss out on Lee- suddenly, EVERYONE'S gaze is going to be on Vernon Wells etc, and we'll effectively have to bid for him as well. Penny and Kemp will NOT get that kind of deal done. It'll take at least two A prospects, PLUS someone like Penny. To me, as horrible as the 07 Dodgers are likely to end up, we should NOT be trading the farm for one year rentals. Problem is, I doubt Ned could convince Mcourt that he'll have to wait a year for a winner, even if he wanted to.

Asa:

I have thought the same thing about getting V.wells. What do the Dodger's have that they could offer. And the deal would HAVE TO be contingent on getting him signed to a 3+ year deal. I mean if they cannot get the guy for a longer term now then any trade is not worth it. Plus it will cost the Dodgers too much for the deal and will create holes that need to be filled...then again, Ned usually pull so impress stuff out at the last moment. Maybe getting the Nomahhh deal done if the first domino.

Something I just thought of, Ned has made the statement that he only wants to find guys who want to be Dodgers. I like that statement. I think the sort of guy you will get is one who understands that the money spread around is better for winning vs. $20M going to one guy. Better 2 or 3-guys who will work for about that price, say $7M-$10M/yr.

Kate:

I think most folks here agree with you about Loney. But a couple have mentioned Loney is not a dead on lock to do well. A new twist is his knees might not allow him to play in the OF and stay healthy for an entire season. Depending on who they might get for him, it could be a good trade.

As far as Drew with the Angels, fahhhgitaboudit, Scioscia would never put up with the kinda treatment the Drewish Princess demands...she is just too high maintainence for a real baseball guy (and coaching staff too for that matter.) Little seems to play is more like the Dr. Phil of baseball. Ya gotta wonder about the sweet nothings the anti-christ (borazzz) was wispering in Drew's ear to get him to walk away from $33M. Sure he'll get more, but good gawd, he will never make it on a winner because that takes far too much dedication and sacrifice...but playing for periennial losers or fring teams seems very likely for his entire career. I hope he gets the money and plays ONE INNING then turns into Homer J. or Peter Griffen... :D

The cubs line up shown above reminds me much of the Yankees. A lot of money spent on the offense for sure, but the pitching still needs much more help to be a successful contender. I think pitching will be their downfall, but hey there's still a lot of time to land some good pitchers, hopefully they've run out of money, and for a long time. It really looks like the Cubs are seroius about building a good team with all this money their spending. Anyway, I'm just glad the dodgers didn't spend all that money on someone like Soriano, don't get me wrong he's good, just not THAT good...With the history of big $ contracts the dodgers have spent, they would be lucky if they got 2 solid years from Anyone...Last time I checked I think they were still paying Kevin Brown and Dreidfort and average of 5 million per game....lol..

Primeplayer,
You just might have nailed it.