Spring training has finally arrived and not a moment too soon! Last week, the Kings were still enjoying their unprecedented fourth DTBL championship, when two of their stars were suddenly involved in one of the most shocking MLB trades in recent history. The Yankees did the unthinkable, acquiring Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later.
Rodriguez will join a loaded New York lineup that now includes two of the games best shortstops. ARod agreed to move to third base next to shortstop Derek Jeter. The two will make up a very expensive left side of the infield. Meanwhile, Soriano will be moved into the outfield for the Rangers.
What does this mean for the Kings? Not much for this season. In fact, both players should thrive in their new environment. Teams will have a hard time pitching around Rodriguez in the loaded Yankees lineup. Soriano should benefit from a very friendly right handed hitter's park in Texas.
The Kings problem will be in 2005. If things go according to plan, Rodriguez will become a third baseman and Soriano an outfielder for the '05 DTBL season. The Kings already have a log jam at 1B/3B. More importantly, they will no longer have baseball's two best middle infielders. They will be hard pressed to find players to even begin replacing those two.
Rodriguez has been a fixture at shortstop for the Kings throughout his DTBL career. They selected him with the first overall pick in the 1997 draft, a pick they acquired from Tom's Tidal Wave for Roger Clemens. He has hit 40 or more home runs in each of the last six years and has 303 in his DTBL career. There is little argument about who the Kings best player has been during their championship reign. It is clearly ARod.
Soriano has certainly helped the last two years though. In perhaps the biggest draft steal of the last five years, the Kings snagged Soriano with the 20th overall pick in the 2002 draft. At the time, the two time defending champs had some serious holes to fill. Soriano basically filled all of them at once. He has been a 35/35 guy (home runs and stolen bases) in each of his DTBL seasons. While his subpar defense and strike out total have made him significantly less valuable than ARod in the MLB, his fantasy value is nearly identical. They are two of the top five offensive players on most fantasy rankings.
Right now, the Kings are only concerned about 2004. They would gladly take another championship with ARod and Soriano in the middle infield and worry about the consequences later.
