Geovany Soto

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Geovany Soto

[Warpticon]

Geovany Soto

 

umm..I second the "I dont get this" post

 

enlightenment, plz......

 

Basically, it's like this. soto has been a beast all season long. His numbers are ridiculous, and he's been just pretty much killing the ball night in and night out. After a while, after enough posts of "soto 2-4 with a homer" and "I sure am glad Soto's in the minors while Bowen/Hill/Kendall tear it up in the bigs" type posts, somebody (can't remember who) started just posting "Geovany Soto," and since it was the same thing pretty much every day in the minor league daily threads, the rest was just implicit.

[weis21]

I think everyone on this board including myself is intrigued by soto, but do you feel comfortable with him for a full year next year? certainly blanco is not the answer. Kendall is very much on again/off again and bad defensively. So, what is the best thing to do? Kendall at a VERY cheap contract is the best option so long as Soto gets a fair shot with jason as the backup. However, thats a long shot and with blanco signed through next year, I don't know what's next.

[weis21]

Geovany Soto

 

umm..I second the "I dont get this" post

 

enlightenment, plz......

 

Basically, it's like this. soto has been a beast all season long. His numbers are ridiculous, and he's been just pretty much killing the ball night in and night out. After a while, after enough posts of "soto 2-4 with a homer" and "I sure am glad Soto's in the minors while Bowen/Hill/Kendall tear it up in the bigs" type posts, somebody (can't remember who) started just posting "Geovany Soto," and since it was the same thing pretty much every day in the minor league daily threads, the rest was just implicit.

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

[TruffleShuffle]

I think everyone on this board including myself is intrigued by soto, but do you feel comfortable with him for a full year next year?

 

This has been the Cubs' mentality for so many years. We have a good minor league player but we're not positive that he's the answer, so let's go out and blow a few mil on some retread who will put up, at best, marginally better than the min-salary guy. While one can't declare Soto the next Josh Gibson based purely on this year, it's not like he's had a .500 BABIP and just dinked and dunked his way to a big year. He has 26 homers. He hit a ball almost 400 feet off the wall tonight, and drilled another one just about that far to left, but it hooked a little to the left of the pole.

 

He may not be a high average guy - given his previous years, it's certainly possible that he settles around .250 - but he's always shown pretty good patience, and he doesn't strike out at an alarmingly-high rate. So give the guy the starting job next year. I think he'll do well. But even if he doesn't set the world on fire, I'd expect him to put up about a .330 OBP and around a .700 OPS, which is fine from a guy playing a defense-first position, and playing it pretty well for a very cheap price.

[Warpticon]

Geovany Soto

 

umm..I second the "I dont get this" post

 

enlightenment, plz......

 

Basically, it's like this. soto has been a beast all season long. His numbers are ridiculous, and he's been just pretty much killing the ball night in and night out. After a while, after enough posts of "soto 2-4 with a homer" and "I sure am glad Soto's in the minors while Bowen/Hill/Kendall tear it up in the bigs" type posts, somebody (can't remember who) started just posting "Geovany Soto," and since it was the same thing pretty much every day in the minor league daily threads, the rest was just implicit.

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

No idea what that has to do with what I just said.

[UK1679666180]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

[CuseCubFan69]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

[UK1679666180]

It was an amazing jump in numbers, his numbers before '07 were .262/.344/.371 w/25HRs in 1574 ABs.

 

This year .353/.424/.652 w/26HRs in 385 ABs.

 

He changed his approach somewhat and it's his 3rd time thru Iowa, so it's hard to say what caused it.

 

But, if they can get .260-280/.330-.350/.380-.420 or better from him, take it. He's not as good defensively as Blanco but much better than we've seen Kendall, so they would be wise to use him as the primary C from here on out, since Kendall seems to be slumping over the past 2 weeks.

Edited September 8, 2007 by UK

[CubColtPacer]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

 

To show you the spike:

 

Iowa 2005: .253/.357/.342

Iowa 2006: .269/.351/.383

Iowa 2007: .353/.424/.652

 

So there has been a pretty huge spike. Some of that has been development, some of that has been the offensive inflation at Iowa, and some of that has been just a huge hot streak. It's just hard to tell how much to value each variable.

[CuseCubFan69]

It was an amazing jump in numbers, his numbers before '07 were .262/.344/.371 w/25HRs in 1574 ABs.

 

This year .353/.424/.652 w/26HRs in 385 ABs.

 

He changed his approach somewhat and it's his 3rd time thru Iowa, so it's hard to say what caused it.

 

But, if they can get .260-280/.330-.350/.380-.420 or better from him, take it. He's not as good defensively as Blanco but much better than we've seen Kendall, so they would be wise to use him as the primary C from here on out, since Kendall seems to be slumping over the past 2 weeks.

 

I agree...if they can get those numbers at his cheap price that would be nice. It's almost like (good) Barrett at a decent price.

 

His arm didn't impress me though. How is this defense on balls in the dirt?

[CuseCubFan69]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

 

To show you the spike:

 

Iowa 2005: .253/.357/.342

Iowa 2006: .269/.351/.383

Iowa 2007: .353/.424/.652

 

So there has been a pretty huge spike. Some of that has been development, some of that has been the offensive inflation at Iowa, and some of that has been just a huge hot streak. It's just hard to tell how much to value each variable.

 

I like the IsOD that he has had and the smaller it was in 2007 could because of less swings and misses. That is a huge jump from 2006 and as Ping said, it may because he's been through the league 3 times and I like the fact that he kept at it and improved.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I think everyone on this board including myself is intrigued by soto, but do you feel comfortable with him for a full year next year? certainly blanco is not the answer. Kendall is very much on again/off again and bad defensively. So, what is the best thing to do? Kendall at a VERY cheap contract is the best option so long as Soto gets a fair shot with jason as the backup. However, thats a long shot and with blanco signed through next year, I don't know what's next.

I think Blanco is the better option as a backup catcher, so I'd prefer to go with Soto/Blanco next year and save money on Kendall's contract. Also, I'd prefer my backup catcher to be more defense-oriented, which Blanco is.

[NCCubFan]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

Are you talking about the type of "help" Rick Ankiel may have had? I'd like to think not, but these days I don't think you can rule out that possibility for anyone.

[CuseCubFan69]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

Are you talking about the type of "help" Rick Ankiel may have had? I'd like to think not, but these days I don't think you can rule out that possibility for anyone.

 

Yes. His possible thinking could be "Hey, I've been here for 2 years, what have I got to lose in my third year?" I hope not but since baseball has such a crappy testing system you can't help but to wonder.

[UK1679666180]

It was an amazing jump in numbers, his numbers before '07 were .262/.344/.371 w/25HRs in 1574 ABs.

 

This year .353/.424/.652 w/26HRs in 385 ABs.

 

He changed his approach somewhat and it's his 3rd time thru Iowa, so it's hard to say what caused it.

 

But, if they can get .260-280/.330-.350/.380-.420 or better from him, take it. He's not as good defensively as Blanco but much better than we've seen Kendall, so they would be wise to use him as the primary C from here on out, since Kendall seems to be slumping over the past 2 weeks.

 

I agree...if they can get those numbers at his cheap price that would be nice. It's almost like (good) Barrett at a decent price.

 

His arm didn't impress me though. How is this defense on balls in the dirt?

 

He's agile for a C and he has enough arm strength. It's hard to tell how good his arm is with these pitchers, even a young Pudge would have trouble preventing runners from stealing.

[CuseCubFan69]

It was an amazing jump in numbers, his numbers before '07 were .262/.344/.371 w/25HRs in 1574 ABs.

 

This year .353/.424/.652 w/26HRs in 385 ABs.

 

He changed his approach somewhat and it's his 3rd time thru Iowa, so it's hard to say what caused it.

 

But, if they can get .260-280/.330-.350/.380-.420 or better from him, take it. He's not as good defensively as Blanco but much better than we've seen Kendall, so they would be wise to use him as the primary C from here on out, since Kendall seems to be slumping over the past 2 weeks.

 

I agree...if they can get those numbers at his cheap price that would be nice. It's almost like (good) Barrett at a decent price.

 

His arm didn't impress me though. How is this defense on balls in the dirt?

 

He's agile for a C and he has enough arm strength. It's hard to tell how good his arm is with these pitchers, even a young Pudge would have trouble preventing runners from stealing.

 

Yes, they certainly do struggle holding runners on and have for years due to the power pitching styles.

[UK1679666180]

That doesn't mean that Barrett and Kendall went from good to bad b/c of them, just bad to worse.

[sethuel1]

Geovany Soto

 

umm..I second the "I dont get this" post

 

enlightenment, plz......

 

Basically, it's like this. soto has been a beast all season long. His numbers are ridiculous, and he's been just pretty much killing the ball night in and night out. After a while, after enough posts of "soto 2-4 with a homer" and "I sure am glad Soto's in the minors while Bowen/Hill/Kendall tear it up in the bigs" type posts, somebody (can't remember who) started just posting "Geovany Soto," and since it was the same thing pretty much every day in the minor league daily threads, the rest was just implicit.

I'll take my credit.

[CuseCubFan69]

That doesn't mean that Barrett and Kendall went from good to bad b/c of them, just bad to worse.

 

That's why I like Blanco. He gives them a fighting chance to throw someone out. Now if he could only hit 260 and stay healthy enough to catch every 5th day.

[UK1679666180]

Blanco is adequate for 40 starts, he's not going to hit, he gave the Cubs more in the past offensively than he's likely capable of in the future. I want him on the Cubs to help mold Soto into a ML starting C.

 

I'm ready for them to stick Pie and Soto out there everyday next year.

[CuseCubFan69]

Blanco is adequate for 40 starts, he's not going to hit, he gave the Cubs more in the past offensively than he's likely capable of in the future. I want him on the Cubs to help mold Soto into a ML starting C.

 

I'm ready for them to stick Pie and Soto out there everyday next year.

 

Me too. As I posted in the transaction thread, get a big bat for right if they're unable to afford/trade for ARod/Tejada.

[Warpticon]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

Are you talking about the type of "help" Rick Ankiel may have had? I'd like to think not, but these days I don't think you can rule out that possibility for anyone.

 

Yes. His possible thinking could be "Hey, I've been here for 2 years, what have I got to lose in my third year?" I hope not but since baseball has such a crappy testing system you can't help but to wonder.

 

I wouldn't count anybody out of that possibility in this day and age, but Soto also staretd a diet and exercise regimen in the offseason and lost 20-30 pounds. Whether that was assisted or not is anybody's guess, but a third time around + entering prime + being in much better physical shape could very reasonably contribute to a significant improvement in performance.

 

In any case, I want him as #1 next year.

[Guest]

 

I'm a big fan of Soto, but he's never been an above average hitter before this year....

 

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting.

 

If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis.

 

He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

Are you talking about the type of "help" Rick Ankiel may have had? I'd like to think not, but these days I don't think you can rule out that possibility for anyone.

 

Yes. His possible thinking could be "Hey, I've been here for 2 years, what have I got to lose in my third year?" I hope not but since baseball has such a crappy testing system you can't help but to wonder.

 

I wouldn't count anybody out of that possibility in this day and age, but Soto also staretd a diet and exercise regimen in the offseason and lost 20-30 pounds. Whether that was assisted or not is anybody's guess, but a third time around + entering prime + being in much better physical shape could very reasonably contribute to a significant improvement in performance.

 

In any case, I want him as #1 next year.

 

+ He changed his batting approach.

[frostwyrm]

I'll be majorly pissed if Kendall's slump goes on another week and Soto isn't made the primary C. Kendall is nothing but a washed up player who had a nice hot streak in August. His slumps are much closer to his current ability level than his hot streaks.