Hoge: Soriano Much Classier Than The Fans Who Boo Him

By Adam Hoge-

U.S. CELLULAR FIELD (CBS) Alfonso Soriano never really had a chance with Cubs fans.

In Chicago, three things are certain: death, taxes and booing — especially when a guy is making too much money.

Soriano signed an eight-year, $136 million contract with the Cubs in November of 2006 that included a full no-trade clause. At the start of the 2007 season, he was already 31 years old.

Even for a guy who hit .277 with 46 home runs and 95 RBI with the Nationals in 2006, the deal was questionable for a 30-year-old in his prime. Getting those kind of numbers from him for eight years was never going to happen and with the contract back-loaded to pay him $18 million annually in the last five years of the deal, Soriano was doomed.

So it’s his fault for signing the dotted line, right?

(That’s a rhetorical question, guy who just spilled his High Life and was getting ready to scream at the computer.)

I realize that booing is often a way for fans to voice their displeasure with management and at some point, I’m sure that was the case with Alfonso Soriano. But that ended a long time ago. The management that signed Soriano is long gone. Yet Cubs fans continue to brutally voice their displeasure with a guy who did nothing but sign the offer the Cubs gave him.

So would he do it again?

“Yeah, why not? Why not?,” Soriano said Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field before the Cubs took on the White Sox. “I feel comfortable here. I signed here to win. It’s not the way I wanted it because this is my sixth year and we went to the playoffs my first two years and after that we didn’t make the playoffs, but when I first signed here I just tried to make this team better and try to go to the World Series.”

And that’s what he did. Soriano was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons with the Cubs and they made the playoffs, just as they were supposed to do. Remember, Jim Hendry signed Soriano to win immediately, not four years later when the contract ballooned to $18 million a year as the slugger was almost assuredly going to be past his prime.

Now, there’s no debating the fact that Soriano struggled in the playoffs in 2007 and 2008. He only managed three hits in 28 combined at-bats and didn’t manage an RBI. But he was hardly the only reason the Cubs were swept out of the playoffs in back-to-back years.

“It’s very sad because we had a very good team,” Soriano said about those seasons. “But it’s so serious so it’s not about the better team winning, it’s the team that at that point plays better. The first two years we didn’t advance because we cooled down and the other team played better than us.”

Soriano was undoubtedly part of the “cooling down,” but that doesn’t mean he stopped trying or stopped working hard.

Naturally, in 2009, at the age of 33, Soriano started to decline. The dropped fly balls and baserunning mistakes went up as the injuries rose. The paychecks got bigger too and, of course, so did the booing.

“I don’t get frustrated because I love what I do,” he said. “Sometimes it’s very hard, you know, when you lose.”

And it would be hard to blame Soriano if he did get frustrated. For the most part, he’s been labeled as a lazy ballplayer — something that isn’t true.

Behind the scenes, Soriano is one of the hardest working players on the team and one of the most well-liked teammates in the clubhouse. That’s why his teammates went to bat for him this week as the boos rained down again.

“I’m happy because they know how hard I work and they know my mentality that I want to win so bad,” Soriano said about his teammates having his back. “I think that’s why they support me because they know who I am.”

At this point, Soriano is just a guy doing the best he can while making the kind of money no one on this planet would have turned down. Sure, there are moments where he gets caught not running out a line drive, but that happens in baseball.

When those moments occur, they will rightly make Cubs fans upset. And it will likely make those fans even more upset to think that he is making $18 million a year.

But next time that happens, you might want to remember that Soriano is indeed trying as hard as he can behind the scenes and has never once quit on the team.

He also has never quit on the fans. Despite all the harassment, guess what his answer was when asked about his favorite memory so far as a Cub?

“The fans always support the team no matter what,” he said. “Loss or win, they always support the team. So I think that’s the best memory because I played on different teams and when the team doing bad, the fans did not go to the ballpark. But here, no matter what, they go to the ballpark.”

So the next time you stand up in your seat and open your mouth to boo, remember that you are booing a much classier person than yourself.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Hoge is a Sox meatball. Stopped at the byline.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

Nice try to get the Blog thing happening. Joe Cowley school of promos.

Adam Hoge, lol

Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?

I had no idea if he was a Sox or Cub fan.

that'd be a cool promotional t-shirt... "adam hoge" on the front and "lol" on the back

If you hate Laurence, then don't listen - don't comment. When he co-hosts the B&B show, take that day off ... listen to an old podcast of a Bernstein solo show and jerk off all day.

Our hotel smelled like dead hooker vagina (before you ask I had gotten a detailed description from beardown)

Score vs the Fan is going to catch up to them eventually


Sooner or later ESPN will realize they need more local programming and they can destroy the SCORE

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

They actually have more local programming than most affiliates do. By only carrying Mike & Mike and the Van Pelt hour (all affiliates need two daytime shows from Bristol), they're getting away with the bare minimum. Most affiliates carry Mike & Mike and Cowherd, or Mike & Mike and some other show. When I was at Milwaukee it was M&M/Patrick, which left mid-mornings and afternoon drive local but still gave up a lot of hours to Bristol.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

I liked Carmen when he was paired with Silvy.

They need a powerful afternoon show to counteract the drubbing they receive in middays.

Well, it does seem as if Cub fans like to have one scapegoat upon whom they can heap 104 years of frustration. Over the years it's been LaTroy Hawkins, Dusty, Todd Hundley, and on and on. Soriano is just the current guy. But I would bet anyone right now that Anthony Rizzo doesn't have anywhere near the career Soriano has had. Maybe Rizzo will be the next object of derision. Or maybe it will be Theo Himself.

Carmen is full of himself and not smart enough to make it palatable.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

Who did the Sox blame for their extremely long title drought?

I apologize for enjoying his previous work.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

I liked Carmen when he was paired with Silvy.

They need a powerful afternoon show to counteract the drubbing they receive in middays.

I like how you capitalized Himself.


Who did the Sox blame for their extremely long title drought?

Well, it does seem as if Cub fans like to have one scapegoat upon whom they can heap 104 years of frustration. Over the years it's been LaTroy Hawkins, Dusty, Todd Hundley, and on and on. Soriano is just the current guy. But I would bet anyone right now that Anthony Rizzo doesn't have anywhere near the career Soriano has had. Maybe Rizzo will be the next object of derision. Or maybe it will be Theo Himself.

I like how you capitalized Himself.


Who did the Sox blame for their extremely long title drought?

ourselves

Score vs the Fan is going to catch up to them eventually


Sooner or later ESPN will realize they need more local programming and they can destroy the SCORE

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.