When the Washington Nationals' bus pulled out of the lot just beyond center field Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, Alfonso Soriano was on it, headed to the airport. On the same bus sat Jim Bowden, the team's general manager, carrying not just his luggage, but the future of Soriano and the rest of the franchise in his hands.
For the first time Sunday, Soriano — the focus of speculation, rumor, innuendo and everything in between in the month leading up to Monday's trade deadline — looked as if the entire ordeal was affecting him. In the course of a 4-3 loss to the Dodgers, he went 0 for 4, struck out twice, was thrown out stealing and nearly misplayed a ball in left.
"I try not to worry about it," he said. "But now, I get close, and I see all the time my name in the news, I get a little worried."
He must worry, one way or the other, for only one more day. Bowden was asked if there was a chance he would make no deals before the deadline at 4 p.m. Eastern time, and he said, "Yeah, sure." But he quickly added, "That's unlikely." Pitchers Livan Hernandez, Tony Armas Jr. and Ramon Ortiz — who pitched into the seventh inning for the sixth time in his last seven starts Sunday — are other prime candidates to be moved.
"It's been a slow process," Bowden said. "I think there's a lot of things at play for a lot of clubs. You've got so many teams in the pennant race in so many divisions. Everybody's playing, and everybody has a pecking order of priorities that they want. And until their priorities are done, they don't go to Plan B, C and D until they know Plan A is out of the way. What that causes is a potential[ly] active Monday."
Though he wouldn't speak about specific offers, Bowden remains adamant that the Nationals understand Soriano's value, and they will not lower their asking price. As the Nationals left town after being swept by the Dodgers, Houston, Minnesota and the Los Angeles Angels appeared to be the three franchises at the top of an ever-evolving list of suitors for Soriano. Detroit, the Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox now seem unlikely.
"It hasn't been met yet," Bowden said of the price it would take to land Soriano. "If it had been, we would have tried to make a trade. We haven't had anybody make a deal that we liked."
The Nationals are believed to want at least one pitcher as part of any deal. And though Bowden continues to target the best young players in the system of each potential partner, there are some who believe — with hours, not days, remaining — that the Nationals won't get what they're asking for.
An official of one team that has recently dropped out of the running said, "They may have priced themselves out on this one." In Minneapolis, Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire said that while Minnesota still considers itself a contender for Soriano, it might cost too much.
"They are looking for high-priced prospects," Gardenhire told reporters. "I mean, they're looking for a lot. . . . You're going to have to come up with a very good package."
There are still some members of the organization who feel that if Soriano remains a National, he will be amenable to signing a long-term deal with the club after the season. But that is a two-way street, and the Nationals would have to decide that locking up Soriano would be worth the money of a franchise that is likely to struggle on the field the next two seasons. If Soriano isn't traded but leaves as a free agent, the Nationals would receive two high draft picks as compensation.
"Obviously, we want to do better than two draft picks if we were to move a Type A free agent," Bowden said. He added, "We've got to be wise on how we spend dollars and how we make decisions on players."
For those Nationals whose names were not in trade talks, there was the matter of Sunday's game. When they arrived here, they were on a season-high six-game winning streak. But they finished the sweep Sunday because they couldn't take advantage of nine walks issued by Dodgers pitchers.
Ortiz allowed three solo homers in 6 1/3 innings, the last a pinch-hit shot by Jose Cruz Jr. that tied the game in the seventh. After the ball dropped over the right field wall, Ortiz slumped into a crouch and slapped both of his hands on the mound in frustration.
"That home run hurt my heart, man," Ortiz said. "I couldn't believe it."
The winning run scored in the eighth, when Cesar Izturis hit a hard one-hopper down the first base line. First baseman Nick Johnson got his mitt on the ball but couldn't knock it down, and James Loney scored from second base. Manager Frank Robinson, though, said he was culpable for the play because he should have positioned Johnson closer to the line during the late innings of a tie ballgame.
"I'd rather take the blame for this one myself," Robinson said, "because I didn't do my job in the eighth inning."
It is Bowden and the front office, however, who must do their jobs overnight and Monday morning in San Francisco, where the team plays Monday night. Sunday, Soriano sat at his locker in underwear and flip-flops for perhaps 15 minutes after the game, staring into space. Whether he will be part of the future of this franchise or not would be determined in the coming hours.
"You look at our record, you see how we play," Bowden said. "We have a long way to go to get to where we want to go to."
