Soriano doesn't want to move. In fact, he refuses. He likes second base. Moreover, he feels that his eventual earning power as a player will be greater as a second baseman than as a left fielder. He's a great hitter for a second baseman, not quite as much of a stand-out offensively in left. Thus Soriano refuses to play the position his manager wants him to play.

Did I neglect to mention that Soriano is paid millions of dollars a year by the Nationals, who have him under contract? No, I'm sure I mentioned it. Perhaps Soriano is unaware of that, though it is unlikely. There is a basic duty here: the duty to do one's job according to one's employer's wishes. In team sports, there is also an obligation to one's team and team mates: the obligation to subjugate personal goals and desires to winning. Soriano seems unaware of this obligation as well. Managers have moved baseball stars and would-be stars to new and strange positions for a hundred years; that's their job. Babe Ruth wanted to be a pitcher, after all. The player has a right to argue, complain and grumble, but when the dust clears, he's going where his manager says he is, and that's that.

As always with today's pro athletes, there are plenty of people rushing to make excuses for Soriano. It's his last year before free agency, when he can make big bucks by selling his services to the highest bidder: no wonder he wants to play where he is most comfortable. He had said for years that he didn't want to play the outfield; the Nationals should have checked before they traded for him. Hey, the guy's a professional and an All-Star: the Nationals have to show him more respect. All irrelevant. The bottom line says that the Nationals need a left-fielder, not a second baseman, and Soriano's elected. As long as his name is on a contract belonging to the Nationals and he receives his paychecks, he has an obligation to do what they want. If he doesn't, the Nationals and Manager Robinson should keep him on the bench until the threat of having no 2006 achievements to peddle to other teams forces Soriano to pick up an outfielder's glove, whether he likes it or not.

As the old saying goes, that's why they call it "work."