The initial excitement over baseball’s return to D.C. in 2005 and the unexpected thrill of a team in first place in July had faded a bit by that December. The Nationals second-half collapse had focused attention on the transplanted team’s lack of ownership.
On December 8, however, hopes for the 2006 season were instantly raised by a surprise trade that brought speedy slugger Alfonso Soriano to Washington. Savvy fans knew the deal happened in part because Soriano was due to become a free agent at the end of the next season. But perhaps new ownership would have the money to try to sign him to a long-term deal.
The three players the Nationals sent to Texas in the trade for Soriano – Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and Armando Galarraga — failed to live up to any promise the Rangers had for them (despite Galarraga’s what-should-have-been perfect game for Detroit in 2010).
Soriano would join a Nationals’ offense that featured Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen and the promising rookie Ryan Zimmerman. The pitching was a question mark, but at least the team had all-star closer Chad Cordero.
With Vidro the established second baseman, the question going into spring training was where Soriano would play. He had become a star with the Yankees at second base, although he led the league in errors at his position for five straight seasons. He was adamant that he expected to play second, even as he reported to spring training.
On his first day at camp, he sat down with manager Frank Robinson, who told him he would play left field or not play at all. That apparently was the end of it. Soriano remained an outfielder for the rest of his career.
With the Nationals, Soriano performed more than adequately in left. In fact, despite doubts about his arm strength, Soriano led all outfielders in assists, throwing out 22 runners. Nine of those assists resulted in double plays, again tops in the league. His range factor also was tops as was his putout total in left field.
All of this took place while it was clear the Nationals would swap Soriano willingly to a contender for prospects at the trade deadline for what was deemed an adequate offer. Yet no deal was made.
Johnson and Zimmerman more than proved their worth. The others did not, but Soriano all season was on another level. Batting lead-off most of the time, he still drove in 95 runs. But Soriano’s greatest achievement was becoming the last of the four players through 2022 who have had at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season. The others are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Jose Canseco (all confirmed juicers, by the way.)
Soriano’s total of 46 home runs remains the Nationals’ record. It also stands as the Montreal/Washington franchise record. For any Washington team, it’s second only to Frank Howard’s 48 in 1969. Soriano hit 24 of his homers at RFK Stadium, despite teammates’ complaints about the depth of the fences.
His 41 stolen bases stood as the team record until Trea Turner stole 46 in 2017. Through 2022, he and Turner are the only Nationals to approach those heights. Soriano’s 41 doubles (making him the only 40-40-40-40 player), two triples and 67 walks helped produce a career-high .351 on-base percentage. Of course, he was an all-star and ended up winning the Silver Slugger award as a left-fielder. His team-high 6.1 WAR (Baseball Reference’s calculation of wins above a replacement) was fourth in the league among position players.
The Nationals finished last in the N.L. East again in 2006, winning just 71 games, so Soriano’s super season drew little acclaim. He finished sixth in MVP voting. Although the Lerner family had acquired ownership of the Nationals in May, the franchise apparently could not or choose not to meet what Soriano commanded on the open market. In November, Soriano signed a long-term deal with the Cubs for a reported $18 million a season.
With a farm system devoid of prospects, it was clear the Lerners decided against committing so much money for as many years as the Cubs did to a player who would be 31 in 2007. Retrospect shows it to have been a wise move, even though Josh Smoker, the pitcher the Nationals chose with the compensatory pick for losing Soriano never made it with Washington.
Soriano put up good numbers in 2007, although not as good as 2006. The Nationals lost 100+ games in 2008 and 2009. In Chicago, Soriano missed 53 games in 2008 and 45 games in 2009, when he hit 20 home runs, stole nine bases and hit .241. He was marginally better in 2010, but it’s hard to image he would have kept the Nationals from the depths of those woeful seasons.
Still, his amazing 2006 production in D.C. deserves to be remembered.
Washington baseball history 
OF assists can be misleading as they tend to accrue to the weak-armed whom runners will recklessly run on. Soriano was great at deking runners (either on purpose or by error) by bobbling a single and then throwing him out at second.
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No question about that. But better to throw them out when they do run on you, as he did. If there’s a stat that shows how many runners successfully took an extra base on him, I haven’t seen it. I could probably find out if most of assists were in the first half. I think he would have been worse at second base, in any case.
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