The Score

And just like that, it's over, and the national sports media can go back to ignoring us. I'm surprised it didn't take longer, but Soriano was going to cave. Some of the more gullible will chalk it up to the persuasionary skills of the good cop/bad cop team of Jim Bowden and Frank Robinson, but it actually came down to the persuasionary skills of ten million damn dollars. Now that the game's over, let's take a look at the box score.

Winners:

• Bodes -- Look, there are a lot of people who actually liked the Soriano trade and a lot of people with short attention spans. The former will be delighted that our big-name slugger!!!! is playing, and the latter will recall only far enough back to remember today, when Bowden got out this mess. They won't remember that he created it.
• Us -- I don't think much of Soriano, but he's more valuable to us playing than . . . you know . . . not playing. Hey, maybe he'll steal 50 bases. That would be fun to watch.
• Brad Wilkerson -- Dude gets to play in a bandbox for a team that actually wants him and isn't a laughingstock. It's a shame he has to change banks again, though.

Losers:

• Alfonso Soriano -- He does get ten million damn dollars, which is nice, but he's having a hard time. His public image is shot to hell, he's in the outfield even though he obviously really didn't want to be, and the combination of the damage to his rep and RFK's spacious outfield is going to ruin free agency for him. How many rally-killing strikeouts or misplayed line drives before the booing becomes permanent?
• The Nationals pitching staff -- The scouting report for hitters vs. the Nats might as well just say "Hit it to left." Soriano was -- without exaggeration -- the worst second baseman in baseball, so it's probably a good thing that he's taking his wacky errororama to a more secluded spot. Still, bizarre Ken Rosenthal predictions aside, he won't be any good. There has been some talk about putting our sulking free agent-to-be in centerfield. I don't know at exactly what point bad management becomes sabotage, but it might be right there.
• Frank Robinson -- I'm no fan of the guy as a manager, but a 70-year-old man shouldn't have to deal with this kind of crap. None of this is his fault, but he was the guy Bodes was expecting to fix it for him. This keeps up and they might not even have to fire Frank. He could get pissed off enough to quit.