Cubs sign Soriano

[Neuby]

Anyone gonna get there Fonzie jeresy this week?

[soccer10k]

WOW! Let the speculation begin to the actual years. The deal is supposed to be finalized and announced tomorrow. We will see soon enough.

 

So as it stands now, do the Cubs do this:

 

Soriano CF

DeRosa 2B

Lee 1B

Aram 3B

JJones RF

Barrett C

Murton LF

Izturis SS

 

I'm still holding out hope that we sign Drew and trade Jones, and/or sign Lugo for SS. If we can add one or two of the decent SPs that are available (Padilla, Westbrook), we have a real contender next year.

 

I agree, the lineup still needs a big bat in the 6th spot, Im not holding out any hope for Jones.

Im not sold on Westbrook just yet, but depending on what we can get for him I would be ok with that with him in the #4 or #5 spot. The porblem is we need a #2 or #3 type starter and IMO Padilla and Westbrook are not it.

 

The Cubs don't need another bat. They need pitching. Jones and Barrett batting sixth and seventh is perfectly fine. We have Z and then ? for starting pitching.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

[Shilzzz]

if the actual guaranteed contract is 5/90 with 6,7,8 some sort of options it will be okay, if not this will be a chan ho park/mike hampton thing down the road.

 

as far as the actual player goes, you know, i really want to see the cubs win. and while soriano might not be vlad or beltran or arod he is still a quality player and makes the lineup that much better. if the cubs still get lugo then two GOOD pitchers(ted lilly/gil meche/jason marquis are not included) the cubs will be the easy favorites in at least the central heading into 2007, which, really, is all you can ask for out of a front office. and if if if if prior can be healthy and 2003-ish for at least the last half of the season, a championships might not be that far fetched. it's obvious hendry has the money and wants to win now. he will lose his job in under four years, so the end of this contract doesn't matter to him.

 

i just really really really hope we win in the next few years.

[nilodnayr]

I think a good barometer to how good of a signing this is, is to see all the "now if we just trade for manny", or "now if we just signe drew" posts in this thread....it might just be a reflection of crazy optimistic posters, or it might be a reflection of how unsure we are that Sori ias actually going to be a significant upgrade. Color me the later.

 

Pierre- .292 .330 .388 3 HR 58 SB

 

Soriano- .277 .351 .560 46 HR 41 SB

 

Ohh, I didn't realize that every player repeats their numbers from the previous year. Thanks for letting me in on that secret. Jeez, that makes a GMs job so much easier. I would say that our team is looking pretty good now...except I predict its really going to hurt us when DLee breaks his wrist. And too bad ARAM won't step up when we need him. Hey, lets trade for Suppan at the deadline, he won't have a ton of value at the time but I'm willing to go out on a limb and guess that he will do really well in the playoffs!!!! Man I bet the Rangers are pissed that that this rule that you have wasn't in effect when they trade for Sori. Thanks for the update!

[Neuby]

WOW! Let the speculation begin to the actual years. The deal is supposed to be finalized and announced tomorrow. We will see soon enough.

 

So as it stands now, do the Cubs do this:

 

Soriano CF

DeRosa 2B

Lee 1B

Aram 3B

JJones RF

Barrett C

Murton LF

Izturis SS

 

I'm still holding out hope that we sign Drew and trade Jones, and/or sign Lugo for SS. If we can add one or two of the decent SPs that are available (Padilla, Westbrook), we have a real contender next year.

 

I agree, the lineup still needs a big bat in the 6th spot, Im not holding out any hope for Jones.

Im not sold on Westbrook just yet, but depending on what we can get for him I would be ok with that with him in the #4 or #5 spot. The porblem is we need a #2 or #3 type starter and IMO Padilla and Westbrook are not it.

 

The Cubs don't need another bat. They need pitching. Jones and Barrett batting sixth and seventh is perfectly fine. We have Z and then ? for starting pitching.

 

Imagine if Prior and Miller are healthy to join one of the second tier starters we get this offseason along with Z and Hill.

[RockTheIvy]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

 

Right. Except that Soriano will more than likely play everyday. Drew's much more iffy.

[YearofDaCubs]

I have to say that my optimism for the rest of the offseason and next year are probably at an all-time high. It really looks like the Cubs are going for it all next year. My excitement level is through the roof.

Exactly. If the Cubs by some grace of God get Lugo and Westbrook, we have the best team in the NL not named the Mets.

 

And that would be amazing.

We get those two and I will be optimistic again.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

 

Right. Except that Soriano will more than likely play everyday. Drew's much more iffy.

 

I'd rather risk the health of someone who has only broken his hand the last 3 years than risk a 30 year old repeating a career year in a contract year. Much much rather. He would've been significantly cheaper and a better defender too.

[USSoccer]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

 

Right. Except that Soriano will more than likely play everyday. Drew's much more iffy.

 

TT, Sori isn't the perfect player, but after Aramis he and Drew were the best available FA offensive players. We got one of them. He's not going to be a great on-base player, but if he slugs like he's capable of in CF, it's a signifigant upgrade to our offense without using tradable assets.

 

By overspending (and JH did overspend again), he's put himself in a position to maximize the tradable assets he does have. I'm not going to kill him for this. It's a good sign at a crazy price.

[soccer10k]

WOW! Let the speculation begin to the actual years. The deal is supposed to be finalized and announced tomorrow. We will see soon enough.

 

So as it stands now, do the Cubs do this:

 

Soriano CF

DeRosa 2B

Lee 1B

Aram 3B

JJones RF

Barrett C

Murton LF

Izturis SS

 

I'm still holding out hope that we sign Drew and trade Jones, and/or sign Lugo for SS. If we can add one or two of the decent SPs that are available (Padilla, Westbrook), we have a real contender next year.

 

I agree, the lineup still needs a big bat in the 6th spot, Im not holding out any hope for Jones.

Im not sold on Westbrook just yet, but depending on what we can get for him I would be ok with that with him in the #4 or #5 spot. The porblem is we need a #2 or #3 type starter and IMO Padilla and Westbrook are not it.

 

The Cubs don't need another bat. They need pitching. Jones and Barrett batting sixth and seventh is perfectly fine. We have Z and then ? for starting pitching.

 

Imagine if Prior and Miller are healthy to join one of the second tier starters we get this offseason along with Z and Hill.

 

The only starter we can count on next year is Z. Prior and Miller are still ?'s and Hill doesn't have a ton of ML experience and we don't know how he'll do once ML hitters start seeing him multiple times. To go into next season without acquiring a starter would be disappointing.

[RockTheIvy]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

 

Right. Except that Soriano will more than likely play everyday. Drew's much more iffy.

 

I'd rather risk the health of someone who has only broken his hand the last 3 years than risk a 30 year old repeating a career year in a contract year. Much much rather. He would've been significantly cheaper and a better defender too.

 

I don't know about significantly. He'd probably go for fewer years, but I read he was looking at a similar dollar amount

[Master Shake]

As others said... Like the signing, hate the contract... so far. I'm sure we'll know the real story sometime tomorrow.

[CubColtPacer]

WOW! Let the speculation begin to the actual years. The deal is supposed to be finalized and announced tomorrow. We will see soon enough.

 

So as it stands now, do the Cubs do this:

 

Soriano CF

DeRosa 2B

Lee 1B

Aram 3B

JJones RF

Barrett C

Murton LF

Izturis SS

 

I'm still holding out hope that we sign Drew and trade Jones, and/or sign Lugo for SS. If we can add one or two of the decent SPs that are available (Padilla, Westbrook), we have a real contender next year.

 

I agree, the lineup still needs a big bat in the 6th spot, Im not holding out any hope for Jones.

Im not sold on Westbrook just yet, but depending on what we can get for him I would be ok with that with him in the #4 or #5 spot. The porblem is we need a #2 or #3 type starter and IMO Padilla and Westbrook are not it.

 

The Cubs don't need another bat. They need pitching. Jones and Barrett batting sixth and seventh is perfectly fine. We have Z and then ? for starting pitching.

 

Imagine if Prior and Miller are healthy to join one of the second tier starters we get this offseason along with Z and Hill.

 

The only starter we can count on next year is Z. Prior and Miller are still ?'s and Hill doesn't have a ton of ML experience and we don't know how he'll do once ML hitters start seeing him multiple times. To go into next season without acquiring a starter would be disappointing.

 

Yeah, we need at least one dependable starter, and then at least one more "option" if not another dependable starter.

[Shavo]

I think a good barometer to how good of a signing this is, is to see all the "now if we just trade for manny", or "now if we just signe drew" posts in this thread....it might just be a reflection of crazy optimistic posters, or it might be a reflection of how unsure we are that Sori ias actually going to be a significant upgrade. Color me the later.

 

Pierre- .292 .330 .388 3 HR 58 SB

 

Soriano- .277 .351 .560 46 HR 41 SB

 

Ohh, I didn't realize that every player repeats their numbers from the previous year. Thanks for letting me in on that secret. Jeez, that makes a GMs job so much easier. I would say that our team is looking pretty good now...except I predict its really going to hurt us when DLee breaks his wrist. And too bad ARAM won't step up when we need him. Hey, lets trade for Suppan at the deadline, he won't have a ton of value at the time but I'm willing to go out on a limb and guess that he will do really well in the playoffs!!!! Man I bet the Rangers are pissed that that this rule that you have wasn't in effect when they trade for Sori. Thanks for the update!

 

Calm ... down ...

 

Alright, now that your calm. Even if Soriano reverts to his Texas numbers (will not happen), then he is still going to hit 30+ home runs and have a decent arm in center. Will Pierre have those things? No, so it is at least a pretty big upgrade over our production last year from CF.

[ToupeeOnFire]

Kaplan on WGN Radio once again mentioning option years.

[YearofDaCubs]

Drew was my first choice but again I really can't complain in getting Soriano especially if he was signed to play CF. I for one am super glad Pierre is a goner. No more seeing that fool bounce throws to 2B because of his weak arm. We'll see what else the Cubs have up their sleeves but there's no question Piniella and the Cubs are here to win this year and next. I don't expect any more moves offensively to be honest, I think the Cubs will now focus on acquiring starting pitching. Again, I'm most thankful not having Pierre here, that guy irritated me almost as bad as Baker did.

[UK1679666180]

Right now, their offense looks to be slightly above avg. They're likely going to invest the next 10 years into hopefully 2 key players (Soriano and Zambrano) with them taking up much of that payroll.

 

Even with the increase in the payroll, they can't afford to not have a good to great farm system if they're going to have almost all of the payroll tied into 3-5 guys.

[YearofDaCubs]

Kaplan on WGN Radio once again mentioning option years.

Even better and hopefully they are team options instead of player options.

[CuseCubFan69]

Drew was my first choice but again I really can't complain in getting Soriano especially if he was signed to play CF. I for one am super glad Pierre is a goner. No more seeing that fool bounce throws to 2B because of his weak arm. We'll see what else the Cubs have up their sleeves but there's no question Piniella and the Cubs are here to win this year and next. I don't expect any more moves offensively to be honest, I think the Cubs will now focus on acquiring starting pitching. Again, I'm most thankful not having Pierre here, that guy irritated me almost as bad as Baker did.

 

I heard the Cubs are still going to go after Pierre and get him to play second since he's so familar with the grounders that are hit in that direction.

[frostwyrm]

I HATE this contract. Writing off 2007 and retooling for 2008 would have been infinitely preferrable to this.

[rocket]

Here's something positive about Soriano:

 

2005 walks: 33

2006 walks: 67

[FergieJ31]

I just don't get it why people think this is the best player available....

 

If he has a season like last year again, then I dont think there's a better FA option out there.

 

Soriano's production last year is basically equivalent to Drew's career numbers.

 

QFT - this speaks volumes. A five-year deal will be bad enough, but if it's eight years?? I just threw up in my mouth a little.

 

Face it, if Soriano's signed Drew's *not coming*. Hendry will think he's done as far as the offense goes, with an OF of Murt, Sor and Jones. Next he will sign Lilly or Meche and call it an offseason.

[JGalt73]

Soriano was not in the top 10 or even the top 25 for best offensive players in the league last year... he was the 33rd best offensive player (VORP). He WAS, however, about 30 runs better than Pierre. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that a 30 run upgrade still makes our offense at or below average. (With 30 more runs last year we're like Soriano's old team and tied for 10th in runs in the NL.) Perhaps with a health Lee and the removal of the negative runs from Cedeno, this could be improved more. But even with an optmistic 40 more runs from those spots this would still be a second tier NL offense. I fear that adding a $17M player likely ends the offensive upgrade. Edited November 19, 2006 by JGalt73

[YearofDaCubs]

Drew was my first choice but again I really can't complain in getting Soriano especially if he was signed to play CF. I for one am super glad Pierre is a goner. No more seeing that fool bounce throws to 2B because of his weak arm. We'll see what else the Cubs have up their sleeves but there's no question Piniella and the Cubs are here to win this year and next. I don't expect any more moves offensively to be honest, I think the Cubs will now focus on acquiring starting pitching. Again, I'm most thankful not having Pierre here, that guy irritated me almost as bad as Baker did.

 

I heard the Cubs are still going to go after Pierre and get him to play second since he's so familar with the grounders that are hit in that direction.

:lol: