The average salary for a designated hitter is around $6.8 million dollars. If you put Soriano's stats up against the players who primarily play DH, without researching the facts, I would venture to say he's probably the second or third best DH in baseball. This means he's worth more than the "average" salary for a DH. David Ortiz is the best DH and is being paid $14.575 million. Based on the facts, an argument could be made that Soriano, if traded to an American League team to play DH is worth somewhere around $10 million a year.
Soriano is owed $46 million for the remainder of his contract. Many articles are speculating that the Cubs will have to absorb $44 million to get a trade done, meaning AL teams are willing to pay him $1 million a year to be their DH, which is WELL below the average salary for that position. This also means that these teams rate him as the worst DH in baseball. The fact is, he's not the worst.
Many Cubs fans have (rightly so) compared his actual numbers to the money he's being paid. When they do this, the numbers don't add up at all. When they do this, they form a negative opinion of Soriano. Let's put that to the side for a second. If Soriano were being paid $1 million a year, would you absolutely love him? I think so.
Obviously, what I'm saying is that we should absolutely not trade Soriano if we have to absorb most of his contract.
But what about prospects? No, I'm not forgetting this. Let's now add in the possibility of prospects. The Cubs recently signed our #1 draft pick for #3.9 million dollars. If we absorb $44 million of Soriano's salary and get prospects in return, we should get 11 #1 draft picks. Do you think we will get ELEVEN #1 draft picks? No, I don't think we can. Now lets say that a Triple-A player, who's almost major league ready is worth more than a newly signed draft pick. Picking a number out of a hat, let's say, $10 million. If this is the case, we should get 4 Major League ready prospects and one #1 draft pick. Do you think we'll get that? Me neither.
The end result is that we will not get any amount of comparable value for Soriano if we trade him this year. Maybe things will be different next year, but for now we should keep him.
Another side fact: Soriano plays hard and has a good attitude. This kind of veteran is a good presence to have around as we continue to bring up the "kids" which in turn makes Soriano's value to the Cubs even higher.
I am aware of the fact that Soriano is being paid too much, but the contract is done and can't be changed. Paying him to play elsewhere is not the answer here. For now, if it were my money, keeping Soriano a Cub is the best direction we should take.
