Nice article on Soriano

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?id=2735165&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

 

He's gonna have a monster year... :knocks on wood:

[A New Era]

PECOTA predicts. .

 

Alfonso Soriano

.287/.349/.569

 

He's batting lead-off, that is set. And his #'s at lead-off carreer wise are very good. Pointing to good OBP. So it's not crazy to think Soriano is going to have a great year as a Cub.

[A New Era]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

[Bull]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

we can always call hin A-Sor

[hawkeyecub]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

we can always call hin A-Sor

 

Please don't.

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the day when that nickname fad ends.

[PrimeTime]

We can start up a " Fonzy " chant.. But not alot of people would know that is his nickname

[Bull]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

we can always call hin A-Sor

 

Please don't.

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the day when that nickname fad ends.

 

agreed. But if he doesn't live up to expectations, remember where you heard it first.

[Mephistopheles]

I'm going to go against PECOTA on Soriano. There are a couple things that PECOTA does not take in account of. The first is being teammates around the batter. While it's true that "protection" leading to "good pitches to hit" is probably a myth, it's certainly true that having bad hitters behind you leads to intentional walks. I believe PECOTA differentiates UBB's from IBB's but takes IBB as a general skill if you can hit. For most of the season Soriano had Jose Vidro, Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton hitting behind him - none of whom slugged .400 and had a combined slugging percentage of like .370.

 

There was an extreme incentive for opposing teams to intentionally walk him. He had 16 of them last season after getting just 15 in the first five years of his career. He's certainly not going to going to get that kind of respect with better overall hitters like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez lurking and possibly a great contact hitter to hit and run with in second, Murton. Teams are also going to want to put his footspeed on base with these hitters coming up.

 

Taking away the IBBs and he still had a significant increase in his walk rate last season, but PECOTA is expecting him to hit that notch again, I don't see how this is justified.

[B]

We can start up a " Fonzy " chant.. But not alot of people would know that is his nickname

 

How hard would it be to figure out that it was his nickname?

[nilodnayr]

ZiPS has him at 265/324/498...

 

AND, I was at a Chris Thile/Edgar Meyer show this evening at Northwestern. Chris Thile is a very outspoken cubs fan and whenever hes in Chicago always talks about them between songs. Tonight he shook his head and said "Is anyone else worried that we just spent a ton of money on a guy that doesn't walk?" And then sarcasticly he said "But at least he hits a lot of homeruns...thats good for a leadoff hitter, right?"

 

I started clapping!

[CubColtPacer]

I'm going to go against PECOTA on Soriano. There are a couple things that PECOTA does not take in account of. The first is being teammates around the batter. While it's true that "protection" leading to "good pitches to hit" is probably a myth, it's certainly true that having bad hitters behind you leads to intentional walks. I believe PECOTA differentiates UBB's from IBB's but takes IBB as a general skill if you can hit. For most of the season Soriano had Jose Vidro, Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton hitting behind him - none of whom slugged .400 and had a combined slugging percentage of like .370.

 

There was an extreme incentive for opposing teams to intentionally walk him. He had 16 of them last season after getting just 15 in the first five years of his career. He's certainly not going to going to get that kind of respect with better overall hitters like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez lurking and possibly a great contact hitter to hit and run with in second, Murton. Teams are also going to want to put his footspeed on base with these hitters coming up.

 

Taking away the IBBs and he still had a significant increase in his walk rate last season, but PECOTA is expecting him to hit that notch again, I don't see how this is justified.

 

 

They don't have him quite hitting his walk rate for next season though so they might be taking that into account a little bit. last year his average was .277 and OBP .351, and they have his average at .287 and OBP at .349. While not a significant difference, that drop in BB's is almost a third of the way from the increase last year back to his career numbers.

[mg420]

ZiPS has him at 265/324/498...

 

AND, I was at a Chris Thile/Edgar Meyer show this evening at Northwestern. Chris Thile is a very outspoken cubs fan and whenever hes in Chicago always talks about them between songs. Tonight he shook his head and said "Is anyone else worried that we just spent a ton of money on a guy that doesn't walk?" And then sarcasticly he said "But at least he hits a lot of homeruns...thats good for a leadoff hitter, right?"

 

I started clapping!

 

they also had him at .248 .295/.439 with 27 hr's for 2006.

 

i think they were a little off.

[Mephistopheles]

I'm going to go against PECOTA on Soriano. There are a couple things that PECOTA does not take in account of. The first is being teammates around the batter. While it's true that "protection" leading to "good pitches to hit" is probably a myth, it's certainly true that having bad hitters behind you leads to intentional walks. I believe PECOTA differentiates UBB's from IBB's but takes IBB as a general skill if you can hit. For most of the season Soriano had Jose Vidro, Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton hitting behind him - none of whom slugged .400 and had a combined slugging percentage of like .370.

 

There was an extreme incentive for opposing teams to intentionally walk him. He had 16 of them last season after getting just 15 in the first five years of his career. He's certainly not going to going to get that kind of respect with better overall hitters like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez lurking and possibly a great contact hitter to hit and run with in second, Murton. Teams are also going to want to put his footspeed on base with these hitters coming up.

 

Taking away the IBBs and he still had a significant increase in his walk rate last season, but PECOTA is expecting him to hit that notch again, I don't see how this is justified.

 

 

They don't have him quite hitting his walk rate for next season though so they might be taking that into account a little bit. last year his average was .277 and OBP .351, and they have his average at .287 and OBP at .349. While not a significant difference, that drop in BB's is almost a third of the way from the increase last year back to his career numbers.

They have him with a walk every 14 or so PAs and last year he walked every 13th or so PA. Granted a couple of the BB's in PECOTA are probably IBBs but they dont differentiate between the two.

[CuseCubFan69]

What scares me about Soriano is that he could have a mediocre year or a good one in 2007. Maybe I've read his history wrong but I just don't see a lot of consistancy.

[Derwood]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

we can always call hin A-Sor

 

Please don't.

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the day when that nickname fad ends.

 

it's useful when you want to call Albert Pujols "A-Jol" though

[CubsLadyinSTL]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

I kinda like PHON-SO, PHON-SO

[BigbadB]

I'm going to go against PECOTA on Soriano. There are a couple things that PECOTA does not take in account of. The first is being teammates around the batter. While it's true that "protection" leading to "good pitches to hit" is probably a myth, it's certainly true that having bad hitters behind you leads to intentional walks. I believe PECOTA differentiates UBB's from IBB's but takes IBB as a general skill if you can hit. For most of the season Soriano had Jose Vidro, Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton hitting behind him - none of whom slugged .400 and had a combined slugging percentage of like .370.

 

There was an extreme incentive for opposing teams to intentionally walk him. He had 16 of them last season after getting just 15 in the first five years of his career. He's certainly not going to going to get that kind of respect with better overall hitters like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez lurking and possibly a great contact hitter to hit and run with in second, Murton. Teams are also going to want to put his footspeed on base with these hitters coming up.

 

Taking away the IBBs and he still had a significant increase in his walk rate last season, but PECOTA is expecting him to hit that notch again, I don't see how this is justified.

 

And if Cesar Izturis is the #2 hitter?

[CuseCubFan69]

I'm going to go against PECOTA on Soriano. There are a couple things that PECOTA does not take in account of. The first is being teammates around the batter. While it's true that "protection" leading to "good pitches to hit" is probably a myth, it's certainly true that having bad hitters behind you leads to intentional walks. I believe PECOTA differentiates UBB's from IBB's but takes IBB as a general skill if you can hit. For most of the season Soriano had Jose Vidro, Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton hitting behind him - none of whom slugged .400 and had a combined slugging percentage of like .370.

 

There was an extreme incentive for opposing teams to intentionally walk him. He had 16 of them last season after getting just 15 in the first five years of his career. He's certainly not going to going to get that kind of respect with better overall hitters like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez lurking and possibly a great contact hitter to hit and run with in second, Murton. Teams are also going to want to put his footspeed on base with these hitters coming up.

 

Taking away the IBBs and he still had a significant increase in his walk rate last season, but PECOTA is expecting him to hit that notch again, I don't see how this is justified.

 

And if Cesar Izturis is the #2 hitter?

 

Then I'll look forward to a lot of quick 1st innings.

[frostwyrm]

PECOTA is way off the mark if it's projecting increased OBP to be a permanent trend for Soriano.

 

Soriano in 2006:

 

67 BB

Bases empty: 435 AB, 25 BB, .278/.326/.556

Runners on: 212 AB, 42 BB, .274/.396/.566

RISP: 117 AB, 36 BB, .231/.411/.462

 

 

Soriano's 2006 IsoD leaps from .048 with bases empty to .180 with RISP. IMO this is a clearcut case of a guy who was the only scary hitter on his team. Other than Fonz the Nats lineup just plain sucked, and there was no incentive to throw him a hittable pitch with RISP. On the Cubs Fonz will be batting in front of DLee and Aram, which is a whole different situation.

[nilodnayr]

ZiPS has him at 265/324/498...

 

AND, I was at a Chris Thile/Edgar Meyer show this evening at Northwestern. Chris Thile is a very outspoken cubs fan and whenever hes in Chicago always talks about them between songs. Tonight he shook his head and said "Is anyone else worried that we just spent a ton of money on a guy that doesn't walk?" And then sarcasticly he said "But at least he hits a lot of homeruns...thats good for a leadoff hitter, right?"

 

I started clapping!

 

they also had him at .248 .295/.439 with 27 hr's for 2006.

 

i think they were a little off.

 

I'd like to see a projection system that wasnt...

[RammyFanny]

You know what sucks. Alphonso Soriano doesn't have any quick two syllable way of saying it so we can't get a chant going if he becomes our best offensive player. :wink:

 

Closest I can think is, AL-PHON-SO, AL-PHON-SO. :wink:

 

I kinda like PHON-SO, PHON-SO

 

I'll stick with SO-RI-A-NO, similar to the Bulls chants of NO-CI-O-NI