Brian LaHair is having the strongest season of any position player thus far, hitting .364 with 11 RBIs for a 1.190 OPS and completely out-of-whack 226 OPS+ season-to-date. Naturally, he's blocking the prospect with the best chance of making a mark in the majors this season. However, there's a way to get both these players on the field, pending a check of Jed Hoyer's cajones and Tom Ricketts' wallet: Trading Alfonso Soriano.
LaHair has the ability to man the outfield, having played 107 innings there (including 66 in right) in the waning days of the 2011 season. He's not going to make any highlight-reel catches, but you also save yourself from watching another crow hop for the rest of your life.
Is Ricketts ready to swallow $54M to rightfully get Anthony Rizzo some major league at-bats, avoid Soriano's standard second half apathy, and score a couple lottery-ticket minor leaguers in return? Even with his walk-off hit on Tuesday night, Soriano has one extra-base hit on the year (current OPS+ of 40) and provides little value to any team when he's not knocking balls towards Waveland Avenue. Not only would this rid the Cubs of the one major albatross left from the Hendry era, but it would allow the Cubs to add some bat discipline while backfilling Soriano's power with Rizzo.
Proposal: Alfonso Soriano and $40M to Mariners, 3B Vinnie Catricala and player-to-be-named-later to Cubs
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| Mariners prospect Vinnie Catricala |
If the Mariners plan on making a run at a Wild Card with Felix Hernandez still in the fold, they'll need to end the Chone Figgins experiment sooner rather than later. Soriano has the chance to add some pop to an order that already includes Jesus Montero and Justin Smoak. Soriano's recently improved fielding would likely allow him to play left even in the American League, but the move will still force the Mariners hand at playing Montero in the field more often should Soriano take turns at DH. Still, this move would give Seattle an improved order and chance to compete for the final wild card spot should they grab a mid-rotation arm to go along with King Felix and recent callup Danny Hueltzen. Obviously, the Cubs would jump at the shot to dump Soriano for just about anything. However, they have the opportunity to grab Catricala, a guy who is likely stuck behind higher ranked prospects in the Seattle system. He could provide a challenger at third base to long-time Cubs prospect Josh Vitters, but will more likely have to move out to left field for defensive reasons.
LF - Alfonso Soriano - 2011 (MLB Cubs) - .244 BA, 26 HR, 88 RBI, 0.3 dWAR
3B/LF - Vinnie Catricala - 6'3" 220 lbs - 2011 (AA) - .347 BA, 1.052 OPS, 11 HR, .897 3B Fdg %
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If there is any scenario that involves us not having to pay all his salary, we should be making this happen asap
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