Soriano is so much fun

[BigSlick]

i said he was my favorite cub and got ridiculed :( thanks for not making me look bad fonzie

I love the guy, I really do, but he could never be my favorite Cubs because of the Jekyl and Hyde at bats he puts out there. Sometimes he looks just plain awful and its in the same games where he'll hit a huge walk off 3 run homer.

[Sammy Sofa]

i said he was my favorite cub and got ridiculed :( thanks for not making me look bad fonzie

I love the guy, I really do, but he could never be my favorite Cubs because of the Jekyl and Hyde at bats he puts out there. Sometimes he looks just plain awful and its in the same games where he'll hit a huge walk off 3 run homer.

 

There's not a player ever who doesn't at times look "just plain awful."

[Magnetic Curses]

i really don't know what else we could ask of soriano thus far. he's been fantastic.

[Amie]

It seems to me that since he came off the DL this last time, even Sori is more selective at the plate. It maybe because he is seeing the ball so well, but he is not swinging at every ball, and he often goes deep into counts.

 

The first of the year he didn't do that, even when the other guys where. But it might be that he spent all that time watching, and saw what a bit of plate discipline could achieve.

 

Hoping this thread doesn't jinx his hot streak...

[BigSlick]

i said he was my favorite cub and got ridiculed :( thanks for not making me look bad fonzie

I love the guy, I really do, but he could never be my favorite Cubs because of the Jekyl and Hyde at bats he puts out there. Sometimes he looks just plain awful and its in the same games where he'll hit a huge walk off 3 run homer.

 

There's not a player ever who doesn't at times look "just plain awful."

Hmm oh yes he has the same ratio of good to bad plate appearances as Ramirez, Lee and Fukudome I forgot

[Brett]

i said he was my favorite cub and got ridiculed :( thanks for not making me look bad fonzie

I love the guy, I really do, but he could never be my favorite Cubs because of the Jekyl and Hyde at bats he puts out there. Sometimes he looks just plain awful and its in the same games where he'll hit a huge walk off 3 run homer.

 

There's not a player ever who doesn't at times look "just plain awful."

Hmm oh yes he has the same ratio of good to bad plate appearances as Ramirez, Lee and Fukudome I forgot

 

I gotta agree. When Soriano is hot, he's hotter than 90% of baseball players can get at their hottest.

 

But when he's cold, he sure feels worse than 50 to 60% of baseball players at their coldest.

[Soul]

It seems to me that since he came off the DL this last time, even Sori is more selective at the plate. It maybe because he is seeing the ball so well, but he is not swinging at every ball, and he often goes deep into counts.

 

The first of the year he didn't do that, even when the other guys where. But it might be that he spent all that time watching, and saw what a bit of plate discipline could achieve.

 

Hoping this thread doesn't jinx his hot streak...

 

From my admittedly layman's observation, I think when Sori's seeing the ball well, he's able to lay off that slider out of the zone. That makes him a much tougher out.

 

This is a great thread. I love Sori. Obviously he's frustrating when he goes cold, but man his highs are so damn high it's a beautiful thing to watch.

[carolinacubbie]

This is the nature of the beast with such a streaky and flawed hitter. When he's one, he's ridiculous, and it's fun as heck. But when he's off, he's horrible. He could never be my favorite Cub as he just makes too many outs for my liking. But he is an incredible talent. It's just a shame Hendry screwed the team up so bad that he practically forced himself into giving Soriano that contract in order to provide a boost to what was a pathetic offense.

 

FWIW, he was sort of a victim of bad timing, too. He probably would've used that money on Beltran or someone else better had he had the opportunity earlier. It seemed MacPhail and/or the Trib was unwilling to OK monster contracts.

 

That's not to excuse his poor allocation of resources otherwise, though.

 

For this team I would rather have Soriano then Beltran anyday.

[TheDude]

With Soriano, it is very simple. Just look at his splits on counts (not just this year, but 3-year or any given season). Yes it is true almost all players will have better splits for 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, and 3-1, but Soriano's are more exaggerated than most.

 

Every hitter's count OPS is over 1.0. Every pitcher's count OPS is under .700. Split and full counts all yield below season average OPS.

 

Plan and simple - the dude is a living incarnation of Pedro Cerrano. Murders fastballs and that's it. Any pitcher that falls behind 2-0 or 3-1, might as well just walk him.

[abuck1220]

Murders fastballs and that's it.

 

that's not true.

[SouthSideRyan]

lol remember in April when people thought Soriano had forgotten how to hit?

 

He had 2 HR and a .577 OPS

 

I mean, really. Did anybody seriously think that he was going to do that all season?

 

I did until he got a code red. Then I knew everything would be fine.

[UMFan83]

I'm glad that Soriano is getting hot in August. Hypothetically, this means that he will go cold in September (and hope that it doesn't matter) and then go on fire again in October instead of going ice cold like last year.

[wiumike]

If Sori stays hot and they ride him into the playoffs, any chance at an MVP?

 

That could give the Cubs a chance at rare MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the year triple crown. I can't imagine thats ever been done before, anyone know?

[TheHawk]

Murders fastballs and that's it.

 

that's not true.

 

Yeah, he also mashes bad breaking balls.

[TheDude]

Murders fastballs and that's it.

 

that's not true.

 

Yeah, he also mashes bad breaking balls.

 

I was writing with assumption that any hitter playing everyday in the big leagues can mash a hanging breaking ball for an extra base hit. That's a given. The only pitcher's pitch (meaning non-mistake pitch) Soriano can really do damage on is a fastball.

[Sammy Sofa]

i said he was my favorite cub and got ridiculed :( thanks for not making me look bad fonzie

I love the guy, I really do, but he could never be my favorite Cubs because of the Jekyl and Hyde at bats he puts out there. Sometimes he looks just plain awful and its in the same games where he'll hit a huge walk off 3 run homer.

 

There's not a player ever who doesn't at times look "just plain awful."

Hmm oh yes he has the same ratio of good to bad plate appearances as Ramirez, Lee and Fukudome I forgot

 

Neither of us said anything of the sort. You simply said that sometimes he looks "plain awful."

[Sammy Sofa]

This is the nature of the beast with such a streaky and flawed hitter. When he's one, he's ridiculous, and it's fun as heck. But when he's off, he's horrible. He could never be my favorite Cub as he just makes too many outs for my liking. But he is an incredible talent. It's just a shame Hendry screwed the team up so bad that he practically forced himself into giving Soriano that contract in order to provide a boost to what was a pathetic offense.

 

FWIW, he was sort of a victim of bad timing, too. He probably would've used that money on Beltran or someone else better had he had the opportunity earlier. It seemed MacPhail and/or the Trib was unwilling to OK monster contracts.

 

That's not to excuse his poor allocation of resources otherwise, though.

 

For this team I would rather have Soriano then Beltran anyday.

 

I'd rather have Beltran in CF and Carlos Lee in LF with that money.

[CubColtPacer]

Murders fastballs and that's it.

 

that's not true.

 

Yeah, he also mashes bad breaking balls.

 

I was writing with assumption that any hitter playing everyday in the big leagues can mash a hanging breaking ball for an extra base hit. That's a given. The only pitcher's pitch (meaning non-mistake pitch) Soriano can really do damage on is a fastball.

 

When Soriano's on though, breaking balls that normal hitters can't do anything with he can hit out of the ballpark. If he's hitting well, you better get the breaking ball in the dirt. If you leave it ankle high (which is normally a pretty decent pitch still to a normal hitter, especially to a right handed hitter) Soriano has a decent shot to golf it right out of the park.

[SouthSideRyan]

This is the nature of the beast with such a streaky and flawed hitter. When he's one, he's ridiculous, and it's fun as heck. But when he's off, he's horrible. He could never be my favorite Cub as he just makes too many outs for my liking. But he is an incredible talent. It's just a shame Hendry screwed the team up so bad that he practically forced himself into giving Soriano that contract in order to provide a boost to what was a pathetic offense.

 

FWIW, he was sort of a victim of bad timing, too. He probably would've used that money on Beltran or someone else better had he had the opportunity earlier. It seemed MacPhail and/or the Trib was unwilling to OK monster contracts.

 

That's not to excuse his poor allocation of resources otherwise, though.

 

For this team I would rather have Soriano then Beltran anyday.

 

I'd rather have Beltran in CF and Carlos Lee in LF with that money.

 

I'd rather have Beltran in CF, Carlos Lee in LF, and Vlad in RF with that money.

[Sammy Sofa]

This is the nature of the beast with such a streaky and flawed hitter. When he's one, he's ridiculous, and it's fun as heck. But when he's off, he's horrible. He could never be my favorite Cub as he just makes too many outs for my liking. But he is an incredible talent. It's just a shame Hendry screwed the team up so bad that he practically forced himself into giving Soriano that contract in order to provide a boost to what was a pathetic offense.

 

FWIW, he was sort of a victim of bad timing, too. He probably would've used that money on Beltran or someone else better had he had the opportunity earlier. It seemed MacPhail and/or the Trib was unwilling to OK monster contracts.

 

That's not to excuse his poor allocation of resources otherwise, though.

 

For this team I would rather have Soriano then Beltran anyday.

 

I'd rather have Beltran in CF and Carlos Lee in LF with that money.

 

I'd rather have Beltran in CF, Carlos Lee in LF, and Vlad in RF with that money.

 

This.

[Gingerballs Lives]

I bet Soriano would make a great 3-card monte dealer because he's got the quickest damn hands I've ever seen.

 

I imagine he's making enough scratch at his current profession, though.

[Derwood]

Assuming he stays healthy, I think the difference between going far in the playoffs and another first round burn out may rest squarely on Soriano's shoulders. He seems to be a guy who picks up the team offensively, but when he's scuffling, the rest of the team tends to scuffle with him.

 

I know, I know, it's not much of a limb to climb out on

[David]

I don't know about the team so much scuffling with out him. They were still kicking ass when he was bad and/or hurt in April.

 

 

Obviously, the longer they went without him, the more likely they were to regress because the rest of the lineup couldn't keep that up, but this lineup is so well balanced that it's hard for me to put much on any one guy's shoulders.

 

That said, give me a hot Soriano in the playoffs, plz.

[SouthSideRyan]

I don't know about the team so much scuffling with out him. They were still kicking ass when he was bad and/or hurt in April.

 

 

Obviously, the longer they went without him, the more likely they were to regress because the rest of the lineup couldn't keep that up, but this lineup is so well balanced that it's hard for me to put much on any one guy's shoulders.

 

That said, give me a hot Soriano in the playoffs, plz.

 

26-25 when Soriano doesn't start.

[Sammy Sofa]

That said, give me a hot Soriano, plz.

 

That's gonna cost you triple.