The Second Coming of Alfonso Soriano
Alfonso Soriano is back.
Yes, we knew shortly after his return from the Cubs that there's being 'back' and there's being back.
Since he arrived, Soriano has almost single-handedly been keeping the Yankees in the race for the playoffs.
Alfonso Soriano started his career with New York back in 1999.
I honestly feel he should have never left, but Yankee managmement decided to trade Soriano in 2004 for a coveted phenom with exceptional ability: Alex Rodriguez. Feel free to refer to my previous article on A-Fraud and how that ended up for the Yankees.
Soriano had raw power back then with foot speed to match. He eventually became a member of the 40/40 club and is a seven-time All-Star.
In hindsight, you can understand why the Yankees decided to trade him. He was deemed expendable due to his poor defense, and this was during an era where power hitters were a dime a dozen. You can thank HGH and PED's for most of that explosion, but Soriano was a pure hitter who also possessed the ability to steal bases as if it was second nature.
His resurgence has been a beautiful thing to see, especially since before the trade, he was almost non-existent on anyone's radar. Cubness will do that to a player. They haven't been relevent in years.
Now back in the Big Apple, Soriano has given Yankee fans hope once again. He's driving in runs and setting records. Almost on a nightly basis, he's driving in a run or helping his team come back from a deficit. He feels comfortable here, and it's refreshing to see a solid baseball player once again gain some noteriety.
I'm not a Yankee fans by any means, but I'm cheering for Alfonso. You can't dislike a millionaire who donates globs of money to his home country. Soriano is a charitable, humble, positive individual with talent to match. Too few players act like this, and it's truly a shame that his positive nature has gone unnoticed for so long.
Alfonso is finally getting his due, and I couldn't be more happy for him.