Lame or Legit for a Player to refuse to play a certain position?

[Gadiantor]

Originally posted by Sebboe
To put it in a realistic sense.. right now I support a certain set of storage products at my job. If i came in one day and they said, ok, from now on you support the tape drives and the backup software instead of volume management software and the arrays that would be a lateral move but I would still quit because I hate those products and that's not what I agreed to do when I came here.

I'm sure the market place for your skills is a bit broader than for a second baseman. What is he going to do if he doesn't move to left field? Where else is he going to play? He can either get millions to play left field or...what, become an analyst for ESPN?

I'm bored at work, so here are some comparisons of Soriano and Vidro (the Nats starting guy at second):

Fielding:

Soriano
    TEAM POS GP  GS    INN   TC   PO    A   E  DP  FPCT   RF    ZR 
1999 NYY SS   1   1      8    2    0    1   1   1  .500 1.13  .500 
2000 NYY 2B   1   0      3    1    0    0   1   0  .000  .00  .000 
2000 NYY 3B  10   8     65   26   11   11   4   2  .846 3.05  .609 
2000 NYY SS   9   4     46   16    7    7   2   1  .875 2.76  .600 
2001 NYY 2B 156 156   1384  704  319  366  19  93  .973 4.45  .796 
2002 NYY 2B 155 154   1388  725  300  402  23  86  .968 4.55  .813 
2003 NYY 2B 155 154   1376  756  292  445  19  88  .975 4.82  .811 
2004 Tex 2B 142 142   1248  749  308  418  23 104  .969 5.24  .799 
2005 Tex 2B 153 153   1351  753  284  448  21 101  .972 4.88  .810 
CAREER  POS  GP  GS    INN   TC   PO    A   E  DP  FPCT   RF    ZR 
Total    2B 762 759 6750.1 3688 1503 2079 106 472  .971 4.78  .806 
Total    3B  10   8   65.0   26   11   11   4   2  .846 3.05  .609  
Total    SS  10   5   54.2   18    7    8   3   2  .833 2.52  .588 


Vidro
    TEAM POS GP  GS    INN   TC   PO    A   E  DP  FPCT   RF    ZR
1997 Mon 2B   5   3     30   16    5   10   1   1  .938 4.50  .818
1997 Mon 3B  36  31    255   72   20   49   3   6  .958 2.43  .722 
1998 Mon 2B  56  46    405  204   78  121   5  25  .975 4.43  .767
1998 Mon 3B   7   3     33   10    4    5   1   2  .900 2.48  .556
1999 Mon 1B  14   7     67   66   59    5   2   7  .970 8.55  .765
1999 Mon 2B 121 115    952  510  208  293   9  62  .982 4.74  .798
1999 Mon 3B   2   0      3    1    1    0   0   0 1.000 3.00  .000
1999 Mon LF   3   0      6    2    2    0   0   0 1.000 3.00 1.000
2000 Mon 2B 153 153   1301  712  260  442  10 102  .986 4.86  .815
2001 Mon 2B 121 121   1035  528  205  314   9  63  .983 4.51  .785
2002 Mon 2B 152 151   1323  773  314  448  11  93  .986 5.18  .807
2003 Mon 2B 137 137   1158  605  199  396  10  76  .983 4.62  .803
2004 Mon 2B 105 104    879  452  176  270   6  71  .987 4.57  .776
2005 Was 2B  79  79    665  331  134  192   5  39  .985 4.41  .793 
CAREER  POS  GP  GS    INN   TC   PO    A   E  DP  FPCT   RF    ZR 
Total    1B  14   7   67.1   66   59    5   2   7  .970 8.55  .765
Total    2B 929 909 7748.1 4131 1579 2486  66 532  .984 4.72  .798
Total    3B  45  34  291.0   83   25   54   4   8  .952 2.44  .704
Total    LF   3   0    6.0    2    2    0   0   0 1.000 3.00 1.000

Here's how they compare in offense:

Soriano
    TEAM    G   AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS 
1999 NYY    9    8   2    1   0  0   1   1   0   3   0  1 .125 .125 .500 .625 
2000 NYY   22   50   5    9   3  0   2   3   1  15   2  0 .180 .196 .360 .556 
2001 NYY  158  574  77  154  34  3  18  73  29 125  43 14 .268 .304 .432 .736 
2002 NYY  156  696 128  209  51  2  39 102  23 157  41 13 .300 .332 .547 .879 
2003 NYY  156  682 114  198  36  5  38  91  38 130  35  8 .290 .338 .525 .863 
2004 Tex  145  608  77  170  32  4  28  91  33 121  18  5 .280 .324 .484 .808 
2005 Tex  156  637 102  171  43  2  36 104  33 125  30  2 .268 .309 .512 .821 
Total --  802 3255 505  912 199 16 162 465 157 676 169 43 .280 .320 .500 .820 

Vidro
    TEAM    G   AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS 
1997 Mon   67  169  19   42  12  1   2  17  11  20   1  0 .249 .297 .367 .664 
1998 Mon   83  205  24   45  12  0   0  18  27  33   2  2 .220 .318 .278 .596 
1999 Mon  140  494  67  150  45  2  12  59  29  51   0  4 .304 .346 .476 .822 
2000 Mon  153  606 101  200  51  2  24  97  49  69   5  4 .330 .379 .540 .919 
2001 Mon  124  486  82  155  34  1  15  59  31  49   4  1 .319 .371 .486 .857 
2002 Mon  152  604 103  190  43  3  19  96  60  70   2  1 .315 .378 .490 .868 
2003 Mon  144  509  77  158  36  0  15  65  69  50   3  2 .310 .397 .470 .867 
2004 Mon  110  412  51  121  24  0  14  60  49  43   3  1 .294 .367 .454 .821 
2005 Was   87  309  38   85  21  2   7  32  31  30   0  0 .275 .339 .424 .763 
Total -- 1060 3794 562 1146 278 11 108 503 356 415  20 15 .302 .364 .467 .831

I'd start Vidro at second. He is a better second baseman, and a better hitter. Soriano can steal bases and hit HRs, but he's getting to the plate anyway, just from a different position. The Nats made the right call not putting Soriano at 2nd. I'm not sure I would have picked him up in a trade though. It's an odd move if you're planning on putting him in the outfield. Vidro is starting to slow down at the plate looking at the stats, so maybe Soriano was picked up to take over the position next season.