Alfonso Soriano spent a lot of time at second base last season, touching it on his way to those 46 home runs, and standing there after most of his 41 stolen bases, but he didn't spend any time there with his mitt on. Fantasy owners might still see that "2B" next to his name, but don't even think about it. This cat's an outfielder now.
It doesn't happen every year, but once in a while fantasy owners have to deal with situations like these when an offensive monster moves to another position, after you had been enjoying the days with him at a scarce position. In our game Soriano still had his second base eligibility all of 2006, because he played there in 2005. But now, it's gone, as the warden said in Shawshank, disappearing like a fart in the wind.
How does this affect Soriano's lofty status in fantasy? Well, he was not only baseball's lone 40-40 member, but nobody got all that close to 30-30 either. Of the 34 players who hit 30 or more home runs, Soriano was the only one who even bothered to steal 20 bases! So as you can see, he was pretty special. And while that was as a second baseman and, after 20 games, an outfield eligible as well, fantasy owners won't be as fortunate this year. You need a second baseman, it's back to Jose Castillo and Aaron Hill types. Good luck getting a 20-20 fella here. Ian Kinsler, are ya listening?
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Eric Karabell
