I agree that getting on base is underrated, but walks can be just as meaningless as SBs. I'm a big believer in Sabermetrics, but I think it can be taken too far, as in the case that you're making that Soriano isn't good with the bat.
Speed on the basepaths has become so uncool that it's gone from overrated to underrated. Let me know when Oakland finally wins something in the Beane era. And don't forget that Boston wouldn't have their World Series crown without that Dave Roberts steal.
You can't get thrown out drawing a walk. I think we all know that anything can and will happen in the playoffs. Oakland gets there. What happens after that can't really be controlled and it has nothing to do with steals.Here are the Baseball Prospectus comments from 2005 and 2003 on Soriano:
2005
Probably the single most overrated player in baseball. Yes, it's interesting and exciting that he can hit a pitch two feet down and in over the fence. But what the hell is he doing swinging at it in the first place? Most of the time, he flails at that pitch and misses it, in yet another mini three-act play that has Soriano slowly loping back to the bench. He hit .244/.291/.444 on the road.
Defensively, no metric places him as a good defensive second baseman, and one advance scout describes him as "beyond redemption" with the glove. Why, exactly, do people think this guy is anything remotely resembling a star? Are we that starved for excitement?
2003
The bigger, better, supercharged Juan Samuel for a new generation, with the tradeoff being that Soriano has a much worse glove but significantly more power, a tradeoff I’d take. Some insiders wonder why anybody ever throws Soriano a fastball or a strike, but so far, so good. The question is whether the Yankees can continue to make do with him at second.
As Jeter has jokingly pointed out, Soriano can’t jump, which makes a move to the outfield look unlikely, if not craptastic. In general, the Yankees should only fret about moving Jeter or Soriano, not both.