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It seemed like a great idea. Everyone in the Cub Kingdom was excited. Alfonso Soriano would be the missing piece to the puzzle.
He came at just the right time. No one was quite sure what Chicago could be like without their once beloved outfielder turned villain, Slammin' Sammy Sosa. Alfonso was powerful. He had speed. He was fun to watch. All the things we enjoyed during Sammy's tenure (prior to corked bats and steroid "revelations").
But as Mr. Harvey would say, "Now we know the rest of the story."
Everyone had seen how Soriano had a tendency to disappear during the postseason. Somehow, he always managed to hypnotize teams with that combination of speed and power. And did so with very lucrative results.
Let's be real though. Do you think Steinbrenner would have let the kid walk if he thought he would help the Yanks get a championship ring?
The Rangers grabbed him due to his extreme potential. And then the Nationals took their turn. Well, it seems no one had learned their lesson about Mr. Soriano.
Cub nation was desperate to overlook the high strikeout rate and let the dream go even further in thinking he would be the one to finally take them to the promised land.
But he's fooled yet another team. And now, the Cub brass must do the right thing and look a disheartened fan base in the eyes to say, "Well... we tried."
Granted, they did try. In fact they nearly broke the bank in doing so.
But the natives are growing restless in Chicago. You simply cannot give that kind of hope to a starving franchise only to let them see it fall apart so fast.
The front office in the Windy City must act quickly to keep fans from staging a coup. Trade Soriano now!
Get pitching for him! Get hitting for him! Get a plane ticket for him! But just get rid of him and then give fans something to get the bad taste out of their mouth!
No sports fan deserves as much frustration as Cubs fans have experienced. They've learned this lesson. Give them a solid contact hitter that knows how to take some pitches and walk a few times. I'm sure fans would give up the home-runs and all the glamour that comes with them for a real lead-off man.
Perhaps you could still use Soriano as bait and revive trade talks for Peavy. Maybe your new friendship with the Baltimore Orioles could even net you Brian Roberts.
Why not? Other teams have taken the Soriano bait before. All I know is that you can't continue to torture your fans like this.
Don't get discouraged. Everyone appreciates the effort. But it's time to try again.
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