Report: Cubs and Phillies Discussed a Deal for Alfonso Soriano

December 11, 2012 By 26 Comments

According to a report from Jon Heyman, the Cubs and Phillies discussed a swap of Domonic Brown for Alfonso Soriano. According to the report, the Phillies “are split over how hard to try for Soriano.” The Phillies could go the free-agent route instead and sign a player like Cody Ross.

According to Danny Knobler, the Cubs also shopped Alfonso Soriano to the Astros as a possibility to fill their need for a designated hitter … but the Astros do not have enough money. According to Jon Heyman, the Cubs are thought to be willing to “pay all but $10 million of the $36 million” left on Alfonso Soriano’s contract. The amount of money the Cubs are willing to include depends on the quality of prospects they would receive in a deal for Soriano. Heyman reported that the Phillies like what Soriano brings offensively but are concerned about his defense.

Alfonso Soriano rejected a trade to the Giants last year and reportedly does not want to play on the west coast.

Stay Tuned …

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Filed Under: If The Ivy Could Talk - Cubs Rumors Tagged With: ,
  • Steven Petty

    Do it

    • gary3411

      26 mil and Sori for DBrown I’d do it as well. I believe because of the quote “The Phillies are split over how hard to try for Soriano” tells you it’s more than likely the Phillies are holding up the deal.

      • RynoTiger

        My nervousness would be that his major league production over parts of 3 seasons hasn’t match his minor league hype.

        • cubs1967

          dom brown is starting to resemble brett jackson; possibly a AAAA player; not a major leaguer. I would think Sori could bring better……..but the payroll is so low; really no reason to trade him anymore unless a good prospect in return.

          • Cubs4ever

            Agreed. Brown has a slow bat and more holes in his swing than swiss cheese. He looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane.

  • BK

    I’m sorry I would not trade Fonso with all that money for just a over hyped spect. If we are going to trade a MVP caliber bat we need more in return only way I deal him is for young spects with upside. Dom Brown no thanks.

    A young arm like Ethan Martin, John Pettibone ect would have to be included IMO

    one of the two + a lower level high upside spect and Dom Brown I would probably do for Fonso.

    In all honesty I would rather those two arms for Fonso than Brown.

    If I was the Phills I would take Fonso on a 2 year 10m deal and not think twice for Brown.

    • John_CC

      MVP Caliber bat? WHAT?! Soriano is an MVP caliber hitter…HA!

  • Cubs4ever

    Dominic Brown is an example of an overhyped prospect who has been exposed in the majors. Why would you trade Soriano for him? It won’t help the team short term or long term. Makes no sense.

    • daverj

      Maybe you’re right on Brown … or maybe he needs a change of scenery and a season of 500+ major league AB’s. Brown’s upside is big and would be a gamble worth taking. Many star players have started their major league careers with the same poor start as Brown. I recall many posters claiming Rizzo was a bust before last season based on his terrible 2011 major league stats. Rizzo in 2011 was worse than Brown in 2012.

      The debate on Brown is probably irrelevant though as the Phillies won’t deal Brown for Soriano even if the Cubs ate 100% of Soriano’s contract.

      • BK

        Brown never put up numbers in the minors close to Rizzo’s even when healthy. The dude isnt very good even if he pans out. He doesnt have near the upside Rizzo did IMO

        http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=brown-001dom

        http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=rizzo-001ant

        Not even close IMO who was the better talent in the minors. I am just not impressed with Brown overall weak at the dish and in the field. While Rizzo was a + defender and hitter in the minors.

        Case of scouts falling in love with that P word and it’s not performance which he has never really done.

        potential,and IMO he doesn’t deserve the blame for not living up to his hype all the scouts over hyped the guy not his fault.

  • daverj

    Soriano plus $26 million for Dom Brown would be an absolute steal for the Cubs. I can’t imagine Philly would even entertain a deal like that. I sure hope Theo can pull this off.

  • Ray Ray

    Shin Soo Choo to the Reds. Great pickup for them. Always liked him.

    • http://theboardridersuite.wordpress.com/ Theboardrider

      Agree. “The locomotive,” can play…

  • Ripsnorter1

    Cody Ross doesn’t have hardly any power. Yeah, he hit 22 taters last year…for Bosox in that bandbox called Fenway Park. He slugged .481–above his career numbers. It would be a mistake for them to go after this guy.

  • Ripsnorter1

    I can tell you why they want Domonic Brown: he walks.
    Yup. He can’t hit. Has shown no ML power to speak of. Did you notice that he’s got a bad glove? Career Rtot/yr is a -15. Speed? Exactly zero SB in 2012 in 212 PA (187 AB).

    In short, he’s another Fukodome–except Fukodome was better. He has a little less BA, a little less speed, a worse glove by far, and even less power than Fukodome.

    And don’t forget–we throw in $26 million to boot.

    What is Team Theo thinking????

  • Ripsnorter1

    If the Cubs make this trade, look at that pathetic OF:

    Brown…..235 hitter….396 slug

    DeJesus….263 BA…..403 slug

    Schierholtz….273 BA…..379 slug (Barney slugged .354/ DJ LeMahieu slugged .410)

    Throw in Stewart/Valbeuan at 3B (slugging .335 and .340)

    Barney at 2B….354 slug

    Rizzo at 1B….463 slug

    Castro….430

    Castillo…..417 slug

    And suddenly you’ve got a team that is going to be shut out more times that they did in 2012,

    • DWalker

      I hate agreeing with you on is, but unless theres something else going on with this trade, I just don’t see it. Gotta think its almost worth more to run soriano into the ground at this point. If noone is offering anything interesting, then use him to protect Rizzo so he can hit. This smacks of a trade for trades sake. Brown makes me think of lahair.

      • Ripsnorter1

        If only Brown were as good as LaHair. LaHair out hit him and out slugged him. And Domonic Brown cannot run, either. Oh, don’t forget his lousy glove in RF. At least LaHair was a poor fielder in the OF as well.

    • TheWrongGuy

      I will agree with you. about everything above. The current Cubs’ team doesn’t slug well nor did they slug well before. The current FO/coaching staff is looking for youth and more athletic players. Dominic Brown fits this on both fronts. Yes, he has holes in his swing. Yes he’s not Fonzi. But Fonzi’s contract doesn’t fit with the Cubs FO well at ALL. If we could keep Fonzi with out his current contract we would not be chatting about this at all.

      Dominic Brown has been blocked and or slowed because of Phillies former outfield. now he has a chance to start. But the team is looking to compete now. I don’t think they like to see him there with the fact that to them he is not proven. And with that and given the current market for outfield Fonzi looks like a good productive possibility for the Phillies.

      For the Cubs we have assembled a solid coaching staff. They are looking to get younger. Have openings in the outfield And they may be willing to trade for Dominic Brown. I hope not straight up and $26mil. I would rathere see another minor pitching prospect added as well.

      There are and ALWAYS will be pluses and minuses to every trade.

      Thats my 2 cents.

      • Ripsnorter1

        Thanks for the 2 cents. :)

  • Aaron

    I don’t get why anyone would be upset with a Soriano for Brown swap….

    Let’s examine this for a second:

    Brown-(MLB career)147 games, 492 PA, 102 hits, 24 doubles, 3 triples, 12 hr, 58 RBI, 51 walks, 93 K’s, .236/.315/.388

    Soriano-(2012) 151 games, 615 PA, 147 hits, 33 doubles, 2 triples, 32 hr, 108 RBI, 44 walks, 153 K’s, .262/.322/.499

    So, Soriano had 123 more plate appearances, and yet Brown had just 45 less hits, and 8 less doubles. Sure, they’re far apart on home runs and RBI, but just take a look at the walks vs K’s, and you can see that Brown is way more patient, which fits in with Team Theo’s style. He’s also 12 years younger than Soriano, and has this career slash line in the minors: .296/.373/.461

    Even if it were straight up for Brown…don’t you think that’s a win in and of itself? After all, the goal of Team Theo has been to convert short-term assets into long-term ones, and Brown would fit that description.

    Plus, it would give the Cubs flexibility to sign a Delmon Young, or Cody Ross on short-term deals where they could play against lefties, creating an above average platoon situation….or they can simply trade DeJesus and insert one of them in RF or LF with Schiehotlz/Sappelt in CF

  • Aaron

    And another thing….come to think of it….with the Phillies said to be mulling the trade over as they sort through FA options, I say the Cubs take away one of their options by signing Cody Ross. Then, the Phillies would have no choice but to deal for a player like Soriano, considering they are in a win-now mode with all their veterans.

    What I would probably do is a trade I’ve already mentioned before to sweeten the deal for them if the Cubs or another team can’t take the Ross idea off the table for them….

    Soriano, Russell, Clevenger (instead of Barney, since they just acquired Young, negating the would-be move of Utley to 3B)

    for

    Brown, Bastardo, Aumont

    Russell would be the only guy the Cubs would possibly miss. The Phillies, on the other hand, wouldn’t miss a single guy, as all 3 have fallen out of favor with Charlie Manuel. If the Cubs included someone like Travis Wood, they might be able to get Biddle included, and it would give them additional time to let Martin develop.

    A blockbuster like this would seem to be a long-shot, but it just might be enough to get the deal done. I would venture a guess, but I highly doubt Team Theo would want to unload Russell, even if it meant getting out from under the Soriano deal, because he’s been an effective lefty reliever. Bastardo has shown flashes, especially in his K rate, so that’s why he’d be included, plus, he’s said to have driven Manuel insane last year.

    With all the recent trades/signings going down, the options are dwindling. They need to stop sitting on their thumbs, and just do something…eat whatever they have to in order to make it more palatable to a trade partner.

    • Ripsnorter1

      I’m not ready to do this Phillies trade and here’s why:

      Do you think we’d be better off if Bastardo came over in a deal and drove Sveum insane? I would not think that’s a plus, but perhaps you have a point.

      I don’t see Soriano as such a negative that we need to dump $26 million into the sewer to trade him for another Byran LaHair, or Brett Jackson. Domonic Brown is likely just a LH bat off the bench. His hit tool is too weak.

      BTW I heard Levine speaking about Brett Jackson and Sveum working on his swing in Arizona. Levine said he watched him hit for three days, but wasn’t impressed because the batting practice pitcher was Sveum himself. How hard could Sveum be throwing at his age, anyway? And Levine mentioned that Sveum was throwing 250 pitches. “He must have a real rubber arm,” was Levine’s comment.

  • Rational Logic

    I’m mixed, too. Clearing some money and a player who will regress and wont be on our roster when we’re competing anyway makes it seem that trading him for a decent upside prospect is worth taking in order to continue the building process.

    It’s not like we’re looking for a piece to compete this year or next, even if Soriano wins MVP we’re not likely to even be in the playoffs.

    Take the trade.

  • Rational Logic

    On second thought, after scoping out D Brown, I think we can do better. But my overall stance remains the same.

  • Aaron

    Also, forgot to mention that people like this guy below are the reason Twitter will be dead soon, just like other social networks like FB and MySpace are dying…because there is so much misinformation from fake users that it’s gotten out of hand:

    RT @JonHeymenCBS: Looking like Alfonso Soriano to the #Phillies for Domonic Brown. Sources say #Cubs are eager to make the trade. Calls into teams to confirm.