Almost A Met: Alfonso Soriano
It's our very first Almost A Met! Omar Minaya really wanted this slugger to be a part of the Mets.
Welcome to the very first edition of “Almost A Met.” I hope you enjoy reading this, because I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’ve been mulling this newsletter for a while and let’s just say I’ve found myself with some extra time on my hands recently… So I figured today is a good day to start this.
I’ve got a few newsletters ready to go, but I’d love to hear from you—some of my very first subscribers!!!—about who you’d like to see covered. Shoot me an email, or a message on Bluesky or Twitter.
Also, you and I are here in the very early days, and I will always remember that. Why not share this newsletter with the biggest Mets (or baseball) fans in your life? The best way to grow this newsletter is by sharing this with other Mets fans!
One more thing: My first email went into the promotions folder in Gmail (boo!). Despite that, more than 50% of you read the email. THANK YOU so much!
Luckily, you can help with that annoying inbox placement!
All you need to do is take today’s newsletter and drag it over to the Primary folder. The more of you who do that will tell Gmail and other email providers that it should do the same thing automatically for others. Thanks for your help!
Anyway, here’s our first “Almost A Met”: Alfonso Soriano. Plus, it’s the Subway Series, so let’s just dive right in.
See ya next time! #LGM
Andrew
🟠🔵
The Omar Minaya-era Mets feel like a blur. Coming off their early 2000s collapse following the Subway Series, it was sort of refreshing to have Minaya seemingly always pulling strings to make the team better. The deals he made didn’t always work (in fact, many of them didn’t) and many didn’t even come to fruition.
The 2005 Mets were dubbed the “New Mets” by free agent acquisition Carlos Beltran, and part of that vibe seemed to be always looking to make a move.
One of those Minaya “what-if’s” ran for a three year-period between 2004 and 2006. It seemed pretty clear Minaya was really interested in making 2B/LF Alfonso Soriano part of the team.
As the New York Times notes, Minaya was “clearly intrigued” with Soriano during the annual GM Meetings in November 2005 and had talks in the “initial stages” about acquiring him from the Texas Rangers.
Soriano, who was shipped from the New York Yankees to the Rangers in 2004 as part of the Alex Rodriguez trade, was being shopped by Texas after spending two seasons with the team where he hit 64 home runs, knocked in 195 RBIs, and stole 48 bases.
Despite those numbers, there were admittedly some red flags. His batting average dropped from the year before, as did his one base percentage. But his OPS+ was still strong (and would stay that way for a few more years). Adding him to a lineup with Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Cliff Floyd would have undoubtedly injected some power to a lineup that was built to win now.
Yes, Soriano was about to enter his age 30 season and by 2009 his numbers began dropping pretty rapidly, but at the time he clearly was a power hitter who could also steal bases. Plus, the Mets were full of veterans and clearly had a win-now attitude.
The Times speculated that the Mets would have to give up a starting pitcher like Aaron Heilman, who made his debut in 2003 and was one of the team’s most highly touted prospects at the time, or Jae Weong Seo or outfielder Mike Cameron to acquire Soriano.
There’s a lot of connections between Minaya and Soriano
Minaya had reportedly had his sights set on Soriano a year earlier, with the Times reporting that the Mets “contemplated a deal for Soriano that would have required surrendering José Reyes.” Given Reyes’ career with the Mets, it's probably for the best that the deal didn’t happen.
The Soriano interest also came ahead of the Mets trading for first baseman Carlos Delgado, who they acquired in late-November 2005. It’s likely getting a bat of his caliber squashed any possibility of adding Soriano to the lineup… at the time.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors reported in March 2006 that the Mets once again had interest in trading for Soriano, this time talking with the Washington Nationals, who acquired the slugger in December 2005.
Dierkes, citing a source, said the Mets wanted the Nats to take Kazuo Matsui, the disappointing Japanese infielder the team acquired in 2004, and would also send then-highly touted prospect Victor “Mini Manny” Diaz to D.C.
Given what we know now, that trade probably would have been seen as a major win for the Mets. Diaz never produced like his (probably inflated) prospect status indicated he would, and Matsui never lived up to the hype after coming over from Japan. (Despite his bizarre propensity for knocking in Opening Day runs. Seriously, it’s wild).
A 2006 lineup of Reyes, Soriano, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Floyd, Paul LoDuca, and Xavier Nady would have been among the strongest in baseball.
Ultimately, Soriano wasn’t traded by the Nats and ended up signing an eight-year contract with the Chicago Cubs. After several up-and-down seasons he ended up being traded back to the Yankees and retired in 2014.
It’s clear that Minaya had a lot of interest in Soriano, and it’s fun to imagine what he could have done to help those mid-2000s Mets teams that never quite reached the World Series.
❓ Would you have made the trade?
Let’s get in the GM chair. The Texas Rangers wanted Aaron Heilman, Jae Weong Seo and Mike Cameron for Soriano in 2005. Is that a trade you’d agree to? (Remember, hindsight is 20/20).
Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.
⚾ Mets news of the week
“Sean Manaea is a man of many talents” (SNY_Mets)
11 years ago yesterday, SP Jacob DeGrom made his MLB debut while pitching against the Yankees. Figured this one was fun given today’s schedule. (@MikeMayer22)
A raccoon was spotted at Citi Field on Wednesday. Is this our new Grimace? (Just Mets)
👀 Next time on “Almost A Met”
Next newsletter we’ll be look at the saga of OF Juan Gonzalez almost becoming a New York Met. Stay tuned!
Got a suggestion for who you want us to feature in an upcoming newsletter? Send me an email by clicking the link below.
1️⃣ One last thing
I mentioned in my welcome email that I’m in media and was laid off recently, so I wanted to highlight a few other former colleagues who are doing great work!
A great newsletter: Paging Dr. Lesbian - Dispatches from the lesbian internet (and beyond). Kira is a great writer and amazing newsletter editor, check out her Substack. It’s awesome.
A cool YouTube channel: @kylecalise. Kyle was a blast to work with on a weekly basis and is an amazing video editor. He’s wrote / produced / edited so many cool things. Give him a follow.