Soriano Jockeys for Position

Team officials said that the budget, handed down by MLB, is expected to be around $60 million for player payroll, an increase from the $52.8 million the Nationals spent last year. And even with the extra money, Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden acknowledged Wednesday that he was having a difficult time enticing free agents to play in Washington because they didn't know who they would be working for in the future.

Several baseball executives on Thursday speculated the Nationals would make another move to alleviate the second base problem, whether that is spinning Soriano off in another trade, or trying to deal Vidro -- either of which presumably would target starting pitching. Yet another executive theorized that the trade was merely Bowden's rash response to the mounting frustration of being unable to sign a front-line free-agent starting pitcher this week, despite multiple attempts.

Bowden -- while careful not to discuss the Soriano deal specifically, because it is not yet official, and MLB rules prohibit officials from commenting on other teams' personnel -- played down the possibility of a conflict over the player being asked to move to the outfield. Bowden compared the situation to Alex Rodriguez's acceptance of a move to third base when he was traded to the New York Yankees before the 2004 season.

"We don't always get [to play] the exact positions we want sometimes," Bowden said before leaving Thursday. "But you do what's best for the organization to win. There will be unhappy people, but our job is to win. . . . A lot can happen between now and spring training."

The Nationals did not contact Soriano's representatives before making the trade to discuss the position switch, but team officials seem to be well aware they may be getting a very unhappy player -- not only because of the move to the outfield, but because Soriano is also moving from an extreme hitter's park, Texas's Ameriquest Field, to an extreme pitcher's park, Washington's RFK Stadium.

Last season, in fact, Soriano hit 69 percent of his homers (25 of 36) and collected 70 percent of his RBI (73 of 104) at Texas's Ameriquest Field, while batting only .224 with a .265 on-base percentage on the road. Wilkerson's OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) on the road in 2005 was 112 points higher (.751 versus .639) than Soriano's.

Given the disparity in the hitter-friendliness of the teams' respective stadiums, one rival executive -- who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity -- said, "I'll bet you money [that] Wilkerson hits more homers in Texas next year than Soriano hits in Washington."

Still, the team believes it has all the leverage in the event the situation escalates into conflict.

"What is he going to do, sit out [the year]?" said one Nationals official, when asked about the move to the outfield. The same official also boasted, "Jim Bowden has never backed down from a fight."

Staff writers Barry Svrluga and Jorge Arangure Jr. contributed to this report.