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 Cubs Manager Lou Piniella announced on Wednesday that he plans to drop Alfonso Soriano out of the lead-off spot and into the second spot in the lineup in a move that's going to really test my patience. The reasoning behind Soriano moving down in the lineup is because he's not quite ready to use his legs....or he's not going to be ready to use his legs as much this season. You read the quote and tell me what you think Piniella is saying:
"We want to keep him in the lineup," Piniella said Wednesday. "Last
year, he was out a few times with the leg pulls. If you talk to him
now, he's 80, 85 percent. Put it this way -- out of the two-hole, it
might be easier for him to not have to run as much. We're just going to
look at it."......The Cubs medical staff has suggested such a switch as well. Soriano tried to run on his own on Tuesday and was thrown out.
The fact that Soriano's legs are bothering him doesn't bother me as much as the fact that A) he's going to be hitting in a spot in the lineup where he's supposed to be able to take pitches and move runners over, B) that Soriano is going to be a double play threat anytime Theriot is on base because his legs are bad, which leads me to.....C) this means that Ryan Theriot is going to be leading off this season...he of the .326 ob % and fading stamina last season. The silver lining in all of this, if there is one, is that as long as Soriano hits 35+ homers and drives in 100+ runs, his contract still sort of makes sense in the grand scheme of things. Besides that, this really makes no sense at all.
It seems to me that the solution to moving Soriano out of the lead-off spot is to move Kosuke Fukudome to the second spot and move Soriano to fifth in the lineup....or move Derrek Lee to the second spot, have Aramis Ramirez hit third, Fukudome fourth and Soriano fifth. That way you can get the most out of Soriano's power, which seems to be his last offensive asset, while not allowing his patented streakiness to crush any rallies the Cubs might have at the top of the order.
I understand that Sweet Lou wants Fukudome to hit fifth in the lineup so that opposing teams will have to use multiple relievers late in the game but it seems to me that he's putting Soriano in a spot that's best for the Cubs. Piniella has no problem juggling the lineup around, so let's just hope he comes to his senses sooner, rather than later.
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3 Comments
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2008 Cubs Preview
Maybe the move of Theriot to leadoff is because the Cubs want to get Soriano used to another spot in the lineup because the trade for Roberts is right around the corner. I agree though that the 2 spot doesn't seem like the right decision.
That's actually some sound logic for making the move in Spring Training but again, you run into Soriano not having the tools for being a #2 hitter. If they were to pick up Roberts, which I don't think they do just yet, they should move D-Lee to the two hole and follow him with A-Ram, Sori and Fukudome.....or.....have theriot hit in the two hole followed by Sori, A-Ram, Fukudome and then Lee in the sixth spot.....thoughts on that one?
I totally agree that Soriano should not hit #2. I would like to see Lee or Fukodome hit #2 followed by Aram, Soriano, then Lee/Fukodome.
I don't think it is a bad idea to leave Soriano in the leadoff spot. The guy just crushes fastballs and since most pitchers don't start the game off throwing a lot of offspeed maybe leadoff is a good spot.