I see what you're saying, but my point was that he had the opportunity to negotiate a new contract before it went to arbitration. The Rangers were trying to go out of their way this year to get Soriano back, but not at the ridiculous 10million figure.

He's a good player to be sure, but it's pretty common in baseball that if you dont have the defensive ability to play IF but can hit and catch you can be shipped out to the OF and make the transition - there is good precedent for this.

Additionally other players, of even higher caliber, have moved to a new position because the team they were going to had a player already entrenched there.

Oh and one last thing - the Nationals werent allowed to talk to Soriano about the trade, Rangers wouldn't allow it. Everyone assumed that even though Sori wanted to play 2B that he was willing to go into the Of ---- after all baseball people have been suggesting the move for years.

I think the Nationals just took a dumb risk and it blew up.