By Dave Sheinin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

MESA, Ariz. -- There is a part of Alfonso Soriano still unwilling to acknowledge the notion that he is, and most likely forever will be, an outfielder. He would be the happiest man in baseball if the Chicago Cubs came to him tomorrow and told him they wanted him to play second base. But he is no longer ready to fight for that position. The passage of a year's time, not to mention the addition of $136 million to his bank account, have brought him, though perhaps grudgingly, to the only conclusion possible: Jim Bowden was right.

"When [Bowden] tried to move me left field, I didn't have a good relationship with him," Soriano said, recalling his monumental positional battle against the Washington Nationals' general manager last spring. "But I have to give him credit. It wasn't [done] the right way. But he moved me to the outfield, and I have to give him credit because he opened my eyes. It helped me get this contract. He made me more valuable as a player."

After signing the largest contract -- eight years, $136 million -- in baseball's wild winter spending spree, Soriano reported to the Cubs' spring training camp last week almost completely free of drama. This time, the designer shades stretched across his face were there because they looked good, not because he wanted to hide his eyes. His smile and his strut were unforced.

There remains some question about what position he will play this season -- he surprised team officials by volunteering to play center field, and new manager Lou Piniella said Sunday the team will open the spring with that plan in mind. But it is nothing like the awkward, acrimonious stare-down that took place a year ago in Viera, Fla., when, in essence, the Nationals told Soriano to go to left field, and Soriano, at least initially, said no.

"I was hurting inside" over the switch, Soriano said, in his first full retelling of the Viera saga since signing his Cubs contract in November. "I always had love for the game. I was smiling and happy because I loved the game. But inside my heart, I didn't feel very happy, because I felt like I [didn't] want to be there -- because of the way the people treated me. It's not the right way."

Back in December 2005, when the Nationals traded for Soriano -- at the time a four-time all-star second baseman for the Texas Rangers -- Bowden immediately told reporters that the Nationals planned to move him to left field, something he had not yet told the player. That, in Soriano's mind, was Bowden's first mistake.

"He said a lot of things in the paper before talking to me," Soriano said. "That bothered me."

Bowden, asked to respond to Soriano's comments, said in an e-mail response that the Nationals never spoke to Soriano beforehand because the Rangers -- who still owned Soriano's rights until all the players involved in the trade took physicals and the deal was made official -- denied permission.

"Obviously, in retrospect, we wish we had been given permission to talk to Alfonso in person before the trade was leaked to the media, so we could have at least discussed the matter with him first," Bowden said.

When the Nationals finally had a lengthy discussion with him about the planned move to left field at the start of spring training a year ago, "I said no," Soriano said. "But they did it anyway."

In the early stages of camp, Soriano was allowed to take ground balls with the second basemen -- owing, at least theoretically, to the fact he would be playing second base for the Dominican Republic in that spring's World Baseball Classic. But the standoff came to a climax on March 20, when the Nationals put Soriano in their lineup in left field, only to see him go missing when they took the field for the top of the first inning.

Soriano still insists he was unaware he was in the lineup that day. However, he acknowledges his initial inclination was to fight the position change, with the likely help of the union, no matter how bloody it got.

"I was ready to fight, because I didn't want to move," he said. "I was fine at one position. I [didn't] want to try another one. [But] I talked to my agent, a lot of players and friends, and they say: 'Just play one year in the outfield, and try it and see what happens. Maybe you [will] like it.' "

Soriano won't go so far as to say he liked playing left field, but he did not hate it as much as he thought he would. It helped, of course, that his season turned into something historic: With 46 homers and 41 stolen bases, he became just the fourth "40-40" man in baseball history -- joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. He also worked hard to transform himself into a serviceable left fielder, and he wound up leading all major league outfielders with 22 assists.

"I did a game of [the Nationals'] early in the year, and then another game late in the year," said Piniella, who spent last season as a television analyst for Fox. "And the difference [in Soriano's defense] was amazing. His reads on the ball and his instincts were a great deal better."

For the fact his 2006 season turned into something memorable, Soriano thanks former Nationals manager Frank Robinson.

"He saw me working hard and trying to get better, and he never said anything [negative] to me," Soriano said. "He made me believe in myself that I could do it. . . . It was a very difficult year and a happy year, both. It was happy because of the numbers I put up, but difficult because of all the problems I [had] in spring training and the team finishing in last place."

It was commonly assumed that money was at least partly behind Soriano's resistance at a position switch; second basemen generally are considered more valuable than outfielders of the same offensive ability. Soriano and his agents always denied that was his reason, and his contract with the Cubs, in a roundabout way, helped prove his point. He gets paid for offense, not defense -- which is what the Nationals told him all along.

Informed that Soriano credited him for helping him get the Cubs contract, Bowden said: "I am glad he recognizes that moving to left field was in his best interests as well as the Nationals', because that was our goal at the time we made the decision to move him. . . . We appreciate all of Alfonso's special contributions to the Nationals and the excitement he brought to our city and the positive influence his work ethic was for all our young players."

Soriano will be 39 years old when his Cubs contract ends, and perhaps by then he will see an outfielder staring back at him when he looks in the mirror. For now, however, he sees a second baseman who, for reasons largely out of his control, happens to play the outfield.

"It depends on what the team wants," he said. "Before, I didn't think I could play the outfield. But now I know I can be an outfielder or a second baseman. I think I am both."