[rwperu34]

No, Fonz and Terrmel are not close in value. Soriano is well worth the monetary difference over Sledge.

As an offensive player, Soriano is much better than Brad Wilkerson, even as an outfielder. There is the little issue of $5M, which evens things out. But it only evens things out if the extra money is spent wisely. That's going to be very tough to do in this market.

Soriano's value takes a huge hit if he moves to the outfield, which is why I think this is a lose/lose deal. There are many ways the Rangers could have gone to get more value for Soriano. I can't tell if this is a win now move (which they hurt themselves) or a win in the future move (which they hurt themselves)? To me, it looks like a deal for the sake of making a deal. Either that or a salary purge. If it's the latter, get prospects for crying out loud.

I guess I'll say here, if this deal was the precursor to another deal for the Rangers, (ie Manny) then things might make sense. For the Nationals, if they deal Vidro, it makes more sense.