Yankees Bringing Veteran Alfonso Soriano’s Bat Back To Bronx!

image

Alfonso Soriano is headed back to New York where he originally started his career with the New York Yankees.  As earlier today the Yankees re-acquired the veteran outfielder along with cash from the Chicago Cubs for minor league right-handed pitcher Corey Black.

Soriano, who was hitting .254 with 17 home runs, 51 RBIs and 10 stolen bases through 93 games for the Cubs this year is now headed back to the Bronx where he started his career and gives the Yankees a much needed right-handed power bat they have sorely been missing all year.  The club hasn’t hit a home run from the right side of the plate since infielder Jayson Nix hit one against the Rays on June 25th, which is also the only right-handed home run they have hit since May 23rd.

It’s mainly been because of injuries to some of their marquee big name players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira among others, but the Yankees have struggled to score runs all year.  Which is unusual for a team known as the Bronx Bombers for the output they usually put in year in and out at the plate.  You know it’s bad when according to Elias Sports Bureau, their current 28-game streak without a right-handed home run is the club’s longest since 1971.

The 37-year-old veteran that was originally a non-drafted free agent signed by the Yankees on September 29, 1998 played some of the best years of his career with the team, hitting .284 with 98 home runs and 270 RBIs over his five years with the club.  His second to last year with the team in 2002 is when he had his best year by hitting .300 with 39 home runs, 102 RBIs and 41 stolen bases to help him finish third in the American League MVP Award race.  His stolen base total was the high in the AL that year and he also went to two of his seven All-Star Game appearances during his first stint with the Yankees.

Ironically enough Soriano was part of the the trade that brought Rodriguez to New York in 2003 and makes it somewhat awkward with all the stuff going on with A-Rod at the moment.  That’s another story in itself though as most of us who follow baseball all know and I will just leave at that.

Soriano was understandably very happy to be returning to New York where he started his career having this to say, “I’m happy I have the opportunity to come back to New York, where I started my career.  I’m happy I can try to help the team win and make the playoffs.  This is my house.  I played here to start my career, and I had great moments here with the Yankees.  I was happy when I played here, so I’m happy I came back here.”

With the numbers he put up with the Yankees while he was with the team and helping them win two World Series titles it’s understandable why he’s excited to be back with the team, as he tries to help them get back to the playoffs to try getting a shot at possibly another title.  It’s only right that his career comes full circle and he possibly end it where it started too.

He may not be the huge power bat that he was in the beginning of his career, but he still has some pop and should give this current Yankees lineup a much-needed boost from the right side that’s in need of it and it should be interesting to see how helps the ballclub.  He’s a good addition that can’t do no worse than what the current lineup has either.  Like I said it will be interesting to see how he fits in with the club though and what he does for a Yankees team that started this Friday 6 1/2 games back of their longtime rival Boston Red Sox in the AL East.