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Chicago Cubs' Alfonso Soriano watches warmups from the dugout before a spring training game against the Colorado Rockies, Thursday, April 1, 2010, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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ESPN.com is reporting that the Cubs are growing so impatient with Alfonso Soriano that they are contemplating releasing him before him before his contract runs up. Soriano, who is under contract through 2014 at 18 million dollars a season, has only hit .273 and averaged 27 home runs during his time with the team.

His defense is atrocious, bad enough that the Cubs remove him in the later innings for a defensive replacement. Yahoo! Sports' David Brown has this to say about the matter:

Release Soriano, or trade him for some other team's disastrous contract. But a trade's not likely, simply because there aren't many (any?) contracts out there that look quite as bad as Soriano's (not with Barry Zito climbing back to respectability). I think there's a 50/50 chance that Soriano will simply be released before his contract expires, and perhaps well before then. 

If Tyler Colvin can breakout at the plate, it is possible the Cubs would bench him, or flat out release him. He is set to earn a total of 90 million dollars through 2014, so it is possible the team could try to spread out his contract over the next decade, giving them room in their payroll and opportunities for other players to contribute.

2014 is a long ways away, so the Cubs will probably give him more time to breakout of his early season funk.