Alfonso Soriano year 1

[Brian]

I'm not sure if we ever devoted a thread to what we expected out of him, but his final line looks like this

 

.299/.337/.560/.897

 

33HR and 19 SB

 

When you take into account the two stretches of injury that caused less HR and killed his running game, that is around or above what we all could have expected. Not 40/40 but not far off if you give him the missing ABs and take away the leg injury (and if he hadn't taken April off)

 

AVG OBP SLG and OPS are all above his career average.

 

 

Hopefully he has an amazing October to really cap the year.

 

 

But then again year 1 is not what most were worried about when he was signed :|

[shnsajax]

The OF assists were above what I expected, and the fact that teams love to run against him is beyond me.

 

Happy with year 1

[otis89]

I think it was the Reds announcers that said teams run on Soriano because he has an erratic arm. Not sure where they got that from because every throw I've seen from him has been right on the money. I'm not going to complain though. Teams can continue to run on him all throughout the playoffs as far as I'm concerned!

[Omar]

Content with year one. He did just enough. At times, he can be one of the most dominant players. Hope to see more of that as he settles in even more and becomes the face of the franchise for years to come.

[treebird]

he did about what you'd expect, if you ignore the injuries and the down year in steals.

 

he's a nice player, it's just too bad he has that contract.

Edited October 1, 2007 by treebird

[imb]

he did about what you'd expect, if you ignore the injuries and the down year in steals.

 

he's a nice player, it's just too bad he has that contract.

 

It would be so much more tolerable if he could hang in CF for three or four years, though.

[rocket]

if we go by the 10 million he got paid this year and ignore the other 7 years and 126 million than this is the best free agent signing ever.

[inari]

I'd be a lot more happy with his production if he was in center, right, or even at second base.

[Careless]

I think it was the Reds announcers that said teams run on Soriano because he has an erratic arm. Not sure where they got that from because every throw I've seen from him has been right on the money. I'm not going to complain though. Teams can continue to run on him all throughout the playoffs as far as I'm concerned!

Apparently the Reds announcers are unable to differentiate soriano from Jones

edit: this might extend to their coaches, as well

[NewUserName]

He is basically the pre 98 Sammy Sosa. Except several years older. If he would ever all of a sudden have some sort of plate discipline like Sammy got in 98, I would be extatic with him. If not he is way overpaid.

[professahesse]

Completely happy with his production. Plus I love the guy's attitude and love for the game. He'll always K alot unless a miracle happens, but the guy can carry a team with his streakiness if not his heart alone. Lets hope he's the second coming of Reggie.

[professahesse]

Also, yes it was the triumvirat (sp) of Soriano, Lee and Ramirez who made September what it was for us, but Soriano was first among equals.

[BigSlick]

You have to admit its mind boggling that a guy with as much power as he has (33 homers in a down year with time missed) only puts up an OBP of .337. Seriously, he needs to parlay more of his at bats into walks, but considering he's on the other side of 30 its not like he's ever going to change. (How did he have an OBP of .350+ last year though?)

 

Its really hard to be satisfied with a .337 OBP from one of your top guys, but Soriano comes close. (Especially at the top of the order. :( And with Theriot batting second, we are really shooting our offense in the foot every game)

 

If I had to give his performance a grade this year it would vary from B- to B. But again, as a poster said- this is just year 1 of a 7 year deal. Bleh.

[TBone]

Can't complain too much. He's done a nice job, especially late in the year. I wish his defense in the OF was a bit better as I'm sure a lot of other left fielders would have made some catches he didn't, but his arm in LF and his leadoff homers have done wonders for this team.

 

I know a lot of people would like to have him batting lower in the order, but I think it gives the team a big lift to have the first batter come up and jack one as he's done so often in September. Plus, I'm sure it has a negative affect on the other teams' SP. It would be nice if he were a little more selective at the plate as well, but then he proves me wrong by golfing a low ball into the stands.

[frostwyrm]

I hate that most of Soriano's salary is based on his ability to hit lots of home runs, yet *apparently* he has to be in leadoff to thrive, which greatly devalues home runs, as evidenced by his lousy 70 RBI's this year and 95 last year, despite hitting a ton of XBH. If you give a guy a gigantic contract to hit home runs, then bat him behind a pitcher and Cesar Izturis, you're wasting money. Then there's the more obvious criticism that .897 OPS is really not superstar production from a LF. For $136M you should be getting the best player at a position, especially if the guy is on the wrong side of 30. I'm also not happy that our other outfielders have had to play out of position to keep Soriano happy in LF. If Soriano is really worth $136M then what is Carlos Beltran worth?

[Tracer Bullet]

I hate that most of Soriano's salary is based on his ability to hit lots of home runs, yet *apparently* he has to be in leadoff to thrive, which greatly devalues home runs, as evidenced by his lousy 70 RBI's this year and 95 last year, despite hitting a ton of XBH. If you give a guy a gigantic contract to hit home runs, then bat him behind a pitcher and Cesar Izturis, you're wasting money. Then there's the more obvious criticism that .897 OPS is really not superstar production from a LF. For $136M you should be getting the best player at a position, especially if the guy is on the wrong side of 30. I'm also not happy that our other outfielders have had to play out of position to keep Soriano happy in LF. If Soriano is really worth $136M then what is Carlos Beltran worth?

 

Almost exactly my thoughts. The only quibble I have is I don't think Soriano is in LF b/c he demands to be there. I don't think he made a fuss about playing CF for a few games and I think he'd welcome a move to RF if Lou asked him to. But Lou (and Hendry?) think Soriano's production will fall off if he doesn't hit leadoff and play LF. I think they're wrong and I think it's costing us runs (in terms of (a) having him lead-off and not maximize those XBH and putting fewer guys on base for Lee & ARam, and (b) forcing us to play JJ, Floyd, Murton, Monroe, Pie either out of position or when they shouldn't have been in at all). Given Murton's torrid 2nd half, I'd love to see Murton, Pie, Soriano from LF to RF next season, but I won't be holding my breath.

 

If he doesn't clear a .900 OPS with a sub-.340 OBP in the lead-off spot and plays LF and misses 28 games every year, I'll be even less happy about this signing than I was when it happened.

[CubinNY]

I hate that most of Soriano's salary is based on his ability to hit lots of home runs, yet *apparently* he has to be in leadoff to thrive, which greatly devalues home runs, as evidenced by his lousy 70 RBI's this year and 95 last year, despite hitting a ton of XBH. If you give a guy a gigantic contract to hit home runs, then bat him behind a pitcher and Cesar Izturis, you're wasting money. Then there's the more obvious criticism that .897 OPS is really not superstar production from a LF. For $136M you should be getting the best player at a position, especially if the guy is on the wrong side of 30. I'm also not happy that our other outfielders have had to play out of position to keep Soriano happy in LF. If Soriano is really worth $136M then what is Carlos Beltran worth?

 

Almost exactly my thoughts. The only quibble I have is I don't think Soriano is in LF b/c he demands to be there. I don't think he made a fuss about playing CF for a few games and I think he'd welcome a move to RF if Lou asked him to. But Lou (and Hendry?) think Soriano's production will fall off if he doesn't hit leadoff and play LF. I think they're wrong and I think it's costing us runs (in terms of (a) having him lead-off and not maximize those XBH and putting fewer guys on base for Lee & ARam, and (b) forcing us to play JJ, Floyd, Murton, Monroe, Pie either out of position or when they shouldn't have been in at all). Given Murton's torrid 2nd half, I'd love to see Murton, Pie, Soriano from LF to RF next season, but I won't be holding my breath.

 

If he doesn't clear a .900 OPS with a sub-.340 OBP in the lead-off spot and plays LF and misses 28 games every year, I'll be even less happy about this signing than I was when it happened.

 

I agree with your agreement and I'll add that it is a damn shame the Cubs couldn't find a spot for Murton. I think he will be traded this off-season. I hope he can bring in a good return. If they hold on to Murton and then display a similar pattern of play for him next year, their are making a mistake.

[nilodnayr]

(How did he have an OBP of .350+ last year though?)

 

16 intentional walks, compared to 4 this year. He and Zimmerman were the only two decent players on the Nats in 06.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I like Soriano a lot more now than I thought I would. Now, if he'd only move to RF...

[nilodnayr]

(How did he have an OBP of .350+ last year though?)

 

16 intentional walks, compared to 4 this year. He and Zimmerman were the only two decent players on the Nats in 06.

 

Also, there probably were a ton of unintentional intentional walks.

[hardcorecubfan]

Great arm, but the price was still way to steep.

 

It may not be if he comes through in the series, this is what we are paying him for, now let's see him earn it.

[UMFan83]

I am ok with his numbers this year, except the fact that they will never get much better than this, and will probably be worse the majority of his tenure with the Cubs.

 

He is a good guy to have around as long as he isn't the focal point of the offense.

[haltz]

He's probably the second best defensive left fielder in the league, counting Byrnes I guess. Due partly to skill and partly to the fact that there are some terrible fielding left fielders in the National League.

 

Over the same amount of playing time, the average NL LF would create about 15 less runs, and (just guessing here) be worth about 15 less on defense. So he's probably about 3 wins above the average LF in what is presumably his peak. Which illustrates how bad the end of the contract will likely be.

 

At some point over the next however many years, the Cubs are going to want to hide a bat out there, and it should probably be troublesome that the organization didn't make much of an effort to play him somewhere else, especially at this stage in his career.

[Soul]

Love his ability to throw people out from LF.

 

Love his hitting when he gets on a streak.

 

Hate his hitting when he's not on a streak.

 

He swings at some of the crappiest pitches ever. Then he hits some of the crappiest pitches ever out.

 

 

 

 

...I have to admit, I love it when he hits a dinger and all you see are those ultra-white teeth beeming back at you from under his hitting helmet. I dunno, is that wrong? Hehe.....other teams sure don't like it when he does that.

[CuseCubFan69]

He is what he has always been. Mr. Hendry over payed and I have to hope for years like this one until year 4 or so. I don't think he'll do that well past that.