Athletes - Alfonso Soriano

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	Athletes - Alfonso Soriano

Alfonso Guilleard Soriano (born January 7, 1976 - not 1978 as initially thought - in the Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball player with the Washington Nationals.

Soriano's career began in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. In 1997, he was promoted briefly to the varsity team, and, wearing uniform number 74, he appeared in nine games, batting .181 (2 for 17) with two walks.

He signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees in 1998 and played in New York for five seasons. During his time with the Yankees, Soriano hit 98 home runs and 270 RBIs, hitting 39 and 38 of those home runs in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, respectively. In 2003 he set the record for most leadoff home runs in a season with 13. Many reporters have compared his combination of speed and power to that of a young Barry Bonds.

In 2004, he was dealt to the Texas Rangers as part of the trade that sent Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees.

On May 8, 2004, Soriano had six hits in nine innings -- the first Texas Ranger to do so -- in a 16-15, 10-inning victory over the Detroit Tigers. (The game featured a bizarre, hour-long fifth inning, where Detroit scored eight runs in the top half of the inning to take a 10-run lead over the Rangers, only to see Texas score 10 runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game, the largest deficit ever overcome by the Rangers and tying a MLB record for most runs in an inning by two teams.) That same year, Soriano was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game as the starting second baseman. He hit a three-run home run off of Roger Clemens in the first inning and was named the MLB All-Star MVP.

On December 7, 2005, Soriano was traded to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and a minor league pitcher. The Nationals have publicly announced that they plan to use Soriano as an outfielder because Soriano's natural position, second base, is filled by former All-Star Jose Vidro. Soriano, however, has stated that he will not play outfield (a statement he has made about the position throughout his entire career) and has requested a trade, preferably to an American League (AL) club. He also stated that at the end of the season, when he is a free agent, he will sign with an AL team that will let him play second base.

On February 10, 2006, Soriano set a record for the highest salary ever awarded in arbitration, receiving $10 million, even though he lost his request of $12 million. The previous high was set in 2001 by Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves when he earned $8.2 million.

On March 20, 2006, Nationals manager Frank Robinson wrote Soriano in the lineup to play left field. Soriano refused to take the field, and the Nationals organization has threatened him with disqualification, which would have meant forfeiture of his salary, and he would not have received credit for service time in fulfillment of the obligations of his contract. With his contract's service terms officially still unfulfilled, he would then not have been eligible for free agency at season's end.

Two days later, Soriano relented and played in left field for the Nationals in their exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Robinson indicated that he considers Soriano's move to left field to be permanent, and he will not consider moving Soriano back to second base at any point this season. In his comments following that game, Soriano indicated that he would accept his new position without further argument.

See also

List of players from Dominican Republic in MLB

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Alfonso Soriano ]

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Athletes - Alfonso Soriano

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