With the Dominican Republic out of the World Baseball Classic, Alfonso Soriano (who lost his starting spot on the DR’s roster when they realized he can’t actually hit) came back to the Nats camp today, where he promptly refused to take the outfield position he was assigned by Manager Frank Robinson. The Nats are threatening something that I’ve literally not heard of in the 18 years that I’ve been following baseball: putting him on the Disqualified List.
I wasn’t even aware there was a Disqualified List, but essentially, it’s a bunch of the players who are too stupid and/or stuck up to follow the club’s instructions with regard to playing every day in accordance with their contracts. Getting put on this list makes your contract null and void and it’s unlikely that you’ll see even dollar one, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement that they Players Union has with Major League Baseball.
Let’s see. $10,000,000 to play in Left Field instead of at Second… Or $0 to watch from home and maybe, if you’re lucky, get a contract with a club next season. Well, $0 + local cable service, or a bar tab somewhere in town. I dunno about you, but I’d take league minimum to play the outfield at RFK, even if it meant taking a bit of a pride hit, myself.
So, Mr. Bowden…we traded our leadoff hitter, a bench outfielder, and a pitching prospect to get this Bozo? How’s that supposed to work out?
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
