Lineup

[TommyJohn]

From Rosenblog in the Trib:

 

1. Ryan Theriot (he hit over .300, walked more than he struck out, stole bases, works for me).

2. Aaron Miles (batted .358 in the two-spot last season; that was in front of Albert Pujols, but .358 is .358, pal).

3. Milton Bradley (isn’t this spot in the order the reason you paid all that money for a switch-hitter who gets on base and produces runs?).

4. Aramis Ramirez (27 homers, a team-leading 111 RBIs, and fewer than 100 strikeouts, which is better than anybody else you’d think about putting here).

5. Soriano (he likes leadoff because he doesn’t have to think about actual situational hitting, so this might be the next-best spot to be selfish).

6. Derrek Lee (I’d think about batting him second if he would cut down on the strikeouts and go back to being an MVP candidate).

7. Geovany Soto (this spot seems too low, but if the guys in front of him hit the way they’re being paid, he’ll have another 80-plus RBIs).

8. Someone Who’s Not Kosuke Fukudome (any questions?).

9. Pitcher (But I’d bat Carlos Zambrano eighth).

 

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/01/just-because-i-can-heres-my-cubs-lineup.html

 

I was bored and posted this response, but for some reason it was never actually posted.

 

The problem with that line up is that only potential lefty bats are together in the 2 and 3 position and don’t really break up the power righty bats. You don’t want the pitcher to get into a “zone” mentally. So by breaking up the righties and lefties, you try to force the pitcher to think more and stay out of the “zone”. The zone, many athletes will say, is the area of high concentration where they don’t feel that they are thinking and everything just seems to go right; less cognitive distraction and higher confidence I guess.

 

So, in putting together the lineup – you take the two right power, rbi bats at the heart of the order and insert the one potential lefty power, rbi bat in between them (Bradley). The RH run producing bats in the order of OPS are Aramis (898), Soriano (876), Soto (868), and Lee (823). I think Aramis is the best all around bat and so I would put him 3rd. I would exclude Soriano because I think he is more valuable at another position which I will get to. And then in deciding between Lee and Soto as the next best RH power bat, I think you can go either way but I’m picking Lee because I still think he can put up better numbers than last year and also to put less pressure off Soto since this will be his 2nd year. So, 3-Aramis, 4-Bradley, 5-Lee, and 6-Soto.

 

Next, the Cubs don’t really have a prototypical leadoff batter. Theriot’s stolen base success rate was 62% and so he should not be stealing bases especially in front of the heart of the order. The only real base stealing threat the Cubs have is Soriano who stole 19 bases last year and was caught 3 times while he had a chronic hamstring injury. While his OPS speaks to put him in the heart of the order, the Cubs have enough RH power bats already and he is the only person I would trust to steal a base to manufacture a run at the top of the order. Also, he states that he is most comfortable in the leadoff spot.

For the 2nd and 8th spot, I think you would want your higher obp, situational hitters. The 2nd hitter should have one of the highest obp on the team, be patient to allow the leadoff hitter to steal if need be, be better at hitting fastballs since that is what he will see more often in that spot, and tend to hit to the right side of field to move the runner over (e.g. left handed hitters). The 8th batter should be able to layoff pitches outside of the strikezone since the pitcher knows the pitcher is up to bat next, but be able to put a decent swing on borderline pitches if a runner is in scoring position with 2 outs. Fontenot and Theriot seem more suited to be either 2nd or 8th and I’d put Fontenot and 2nd and Theriot at 8th.

 

So against right handed pitchers you have a line up of:

 

Soriano (344 OBP, 86% stolen base success rate)

LH Fontenot (395 OBP)

Aramis (898 OPS)

SH Bradley (999 OPS)

Lee (823 OPS)

Soto (868 OPS)

LH Fukudome L

Theriot

Pitcher

 

For LH pitchers, I would substitute Miles for Fontenot and Johnson for Fukudome.

 

The lineup is balanced in that it breaks up the right handed bats. You have good power in the middle and high OBP and speed at the top.

[Mephistopheles]

I had a longer post written up, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Half your batting order is classical mismanagement. Don't bitch about Kosuke Fukudome. If he's playing CF and produces like he did last season, he's an average major league centerfielder. That's not a knock. Average is good. Personally, I'd say his production last season is his floor. I'm more confident in him than I am a couple other starters we have.

 

I know I am in the minority on that one though.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Worse two hitters in the starting eight get the most at-bats.

](*,)

[BigbadB]

From Rosenblog in the Trib:

 

1. Ryan Theriot (he hit over .300, walked more than he struck out, stole bases, works for me).

2. Aaron Miles (batted .358 in the two-spot last season; that was in front of Albert Pujols, but .358 is .358, pal).

3. Milton Bradley (isn’t this spot in the order the reason you paid all that money for a switch-hitter who gets on base and produces runs?).

4. Aramis Ramirez (27 homers, a team-leading 111 RBIs, and fewer than 100 strikeouts, which is better than anybody else you’d think about putting here).

5. Soriano (he likes leadoff because he doesn’t have to think about actual situational hitting, so this might be the next-best spot to be selfish).

6. Derrek Lee (I’d think about batting him second if he would cut down on the strikeouts and go back to being an MVP candidate).

7. Geovany Soto (this spot seems too low, but if the guys in front of him hit the way they’re being paid, he’ll have another 80-plus RBIs).

8. Someone Who’s Not Kosuke Fukudome (any questions?).

9. Pitcher (But I’d bat Carlos Zambrano eighth).

 

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/01/just-because-i-can-heres-my-cubs-lineup.html

 

I was bored and posted this response, but for some reason it was never actually posted.

 

The problem with that line up is that only potential lefty bats are together in the 2 and 3 position and don’t really break up the power righty bats. You don’t want the pitcher to get into a “zone” mentally. So by breaking up the righties and lefties, you try to force the pitcher to think more and stay out of the “zone”. The zone, many athletes will say, is the area of high concentration where they don’t feel that they are thinking and everything just seems to go right; less cognitive distraction and higher confidence I guess.

 

So, in putting together the lineup – you take the two right power, rbi bats at the heart of the order and insert the one potential lefty power, rbi bat in between them (Bradley). The RH run producing bats in the order of OPS are Aramis (898), Soriano (876), Soto (868), and Lee (823). I think Aramis is the best all around bat and so I would put him 3rd. I would exclude Soriano because I think he is more valuable at another position which I will get to. And then in deciding between Lee and Soto as the next best RH power bat, I think you can go either way but I’m picking Lee because I still think he can put up better numbers than last year and also to put less pressure off Soto since this will be his 2nd year. So, 3-Aramis, 4-Bradley, 5-Lee, and 6-Soto.

 

Next, the Cubs don’t really have a prototypical leadoff batter. Theriot’s stolen base success rate was 62% and so he should not be stealing bases especially in front of the heart of the order. The only real base stealing threat the Cubs have is Soriano who stole 19 bases last year and was caught 3 times while he had a chronic hamstring injury. While his OPS speaks to put him in the heart of the order, the Cubs have enough RH power bats already and he is the only person I would trust to steal a base to manufacture a run at the top of the order. Also, he states that he is most comfortable in the leadoff spot.

For the 2nd and 8th spot, I think you would want your higher obp, situational hitters. The 2nd hitter should have one of the highest obp on the team, be patient to allow the leadoff hitter to steal if need be, be better at hitting fastballs since that is what he will see more often in that spot, and tend to hit to the right side of field to move the runner over (e.g. left handed hitters). The 8th batter should be able to layoff pitches outside of the strikezone since the pitcher knows the pitcher is up to bat next, but be able to put a decent swing on borderline pitches if a runner is in scoring position with 2 outs. Fontenot and Theriot seem more suited to be either 2nd or 8th and I’d put Fontenot and 2nd and Theriot at 8th.

 

So against right handed pitchers you have a line up of:

 

Soriano (344 OBP, 86% stolen base success rate)

LH Fontenot (395 OBP)

Aramis (898 OPS)

SH Bradley (999 OPS)

Lee (823 OPS)

Soto (868 OPS)

LH Fukudome L

Theriot

Pitcher

 

For LH pitchers, I would substitute Miles for Fontenot and Johnson for Fukudome.

 

The lineup is balanced in that it breaks up the right handed bats. You have good power in the middle and high OBP and speed at the top.

 

I like your line up way better than this Rosenblog character. I'm down with DLee right now. He needs to hit his way back out of the bottom half of any line up I constructed. Here's where I would go right now:

 

Soriano

Fukudome

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Fontenot

Lee

Theriot

 

R-L-R-S-R-L-R-R

[cubswin2009]

You should be banned for posting Rosenbloom.

[inari]

The only thing he has that I like is Bradley hitting third. That's something that should happen but I don't expect. This is how I would do it assuming that Soriano's entrenched in the leadoff spot.

 

Soriano

Fukudome

Bradley

Ramirez

Soto

Lee

Fontenot

Theriot

 

And I tend to agree with Meph; I think Fukudome will have somewhat of a resurgence. .280/.370./.440, or something along those lines.

[Butterscup1679666578]

I'm actually with Meph re: Kosuke. I have to think he'll improve.

 

Also, LOL at this sentence:

"I’d think about batting him second if he would cut down on the strikeouts and go back to being an MVP candidate"

 

If Lee goes back to being an MVP candidate you're not going to hit him 6th or 2nd.

[A New Era]

His line-up isn't TOO bad.

 

But I'm for any line-up that gets Soriano out of lead-off and in the meat of the order where he belongs. And Lee further down until he can bat his way back up again (6th or 7th in the lineup).

[Sammy Sofa]

Yes, a lineup that gets Aaron Miles and Ryan Theriot significantly more AB's than Soriano and Lee is a recipe for success. I smell dynasty!

[SouthSideRyan]

Steve Rosenbloom is a [expletive] moron.

[imb]

Steve Rosenbloom is a ---SOAPDROPPING--- moron.

 

oh come on, this should have been a layup for you

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Steve Rosenbloom is a ---SOAPDROPPING--- moron.

 

oh come on, this should have been a layup for you

he zigged when we thought he'd zag

[third eye]

Steve Rosenbloom is a ---SOAPDROPPING--- moron.

 

oh come on, this should have been a layup for you

he zigged when we thought he'd zag

 

Or MAYBE the world is as expected, but the mods added a word filter for "hack".

 

eh?..eh?

[cubbinalltheway]

I had a longer post written up, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Half your batting order is classical mismanagement. Don't bitch about Kosuke Fukudome. If he's playing CF and produces like he did last season, he's an average major league centerfielder. That's not a knock. Average is good. Personally, I'd say his production last season is his floor. I'm more confident in him than I am a couple other starters we have.

 

I know I am in the minority on that one though.

uhhhh, what?

[C.C.]

I think Fuku will be alright this year. Meph is right, he hit his bottom last year, I can't see him doing worse.

[KingCubsFan]

From Rosenblog in the Trib:

 

1. Ryan Theriot (he hit over .300, walked more than he struck out, stole bases, works for me).

2. Aaron Miles (batted .358 in the two-spot last season; that was in front of Albert Pujols, but .358 is .358, pal).

3. Milton Bradley (isn’t this spot in the order the reason you paid all that money for a switch-hitter who gets on base and produces runs?).

4. Aramis Ramirez (27 homers, a team-leading 111 RBIs, and fewer than 100 strikeouts, which is better than anybody else you’d think about putting here).

5. Soriano (he likes leadoff because he doesn’t have to think about actual situational hitting, so this might be the next-best spot to be selfish).

6. Derrek Lee (I’d think about batting him second if he would cut down on the strikeouts and go back to being an MVP candidate).

7. Geovany Soto (this spot seems too low, but if the guys in front of him hit the way they’re being paid, he’ll have another 80-plus RBIs).

8. Someone Who’s Not Kosuke Fukudome (any questions?).

9. Pitcher (But I’d bat Carlos Zambrano eighth).

 

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/01/just-because-i-can-heres-my-cubs-lineup.html

 

I was bored and posted this response, but for some reason it was never actually posted.

 

The problem with that line up is that only potential lefty bats are together in the 2 and 3 position and don’t really break up the power righty bats. You don’t want the pitcher to get into a “zone” mentally. So by breaking up the righties and lefties, you try to force the pitcher to think more and stay out of the “zone”. The zone, many athletes will say, is the area of high concentration where they don’t feel that they are thinking and everything just seems to go right; less cognitive distraction and higher confidence I guess.

 

So, in putting together the lineup – you take the two right power, rbi bats at the heart of the order and insert the one potential lefty power, rbi bat in between them (Bradley). The RH run producing bats in the order of OPS are Aramis (898), Soriano (876), Soto (868), and Lee (823). I think Aramis is the best all around bat and so I would put him 3rd. I would exclude Soriano because I think he is more valuable at another position which I will get to. And then in deciding between Lee and Soto as the next best RH power bat, I think you can go either way but I’m picking Lee because I still think he can put up better numbers than last year and also to put less pressure off Soto since this will be his 2nd year. So, 3-Aramis, 4-Bradley, 5-Lee, and 6-Soto.

 

Next, the Cubs don’t really have a prototypical leadoff batter. Theriot’s stolen base success rate was 62% and so he should not be stealing bases especially in front of the heart of the order. The only real base stealing threat the Cubs have is Soriano who stole 19 bases last year and was caught 3 times while he had a chronic hamstring injury. While his OPS speaks to put him in the heart of the order, the Cubs have enough RH power bats already and he is the only person I would trust to steal a base to manufacture a run at the top of the order. Also, he states that he is most comfortable in the leadoff spot.

For the 2nd and 8th spot, I think you would want your higher obp, situational hitters. The 2nd hitter should have one of the highest obp on the team, be patient to allow the leadoff hitter to steal if need be, be better at hitting fastballs since that is what he will see more often in that spot, and tend to hit to the right side of field to move the runner over (e.g. left handed hitters). The 8th batter should be able to layoff pitches outside of the strikezone since the pitcher knows the pitcher is up to bat next, but be able to put a decent swing on borderline pitches if a runner is in scoring position with 2 outs. Fontenot and Theriot seem more suited to be either 2nd or 8th and I’d put Fontenot and 2nd and Theriot at 8th.

 

So against right handed pitchers you have a line up of:

 

Soriano (344 OBP, 86% stolen base success rate)

LH Fontenot (395 OBP)

Aramis (898 OPS)

SH Bradley (999 OPS)

Lee (823 OPS)

Soto (868 OPS)

LH Fukudome L

Theriot

Pitcher

 

For LH pitchers, I would substitute Miles for Fontenot and Johnson for Fukudome.

 

The lineup is balanced in that it breaks up the right handed bats. You have good power in the middle and high OBP and speed at the top.

 

I like your line up way better than this Rosenblog character. I'm down with DLee right now. He needs to hit his way back out of the bottom half of any line up I constructed. Here's where I would go right now:

 

Soriano

Fukudome

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Fontenot

Lee

Theriot

 

R-L-R-S-R-L-R-R

Even though Lee was bad he was still better than Kosuke. Why throw Kosuke right back into the fire and put pressure on him? Might as well bat him 7th or 8th until he shows he can be a major league baseball player. I'd go:

Soriano

Fontenot

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Lee

Fukudome

Theriot

 

Against LHP

Soriano

Johnson

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Lee

Theriot

Miles

 

When Bradley is hurt, I'm guessing Lou will hit Soriano 5th and move Theriot to the leadoff spot

[laurens]

I had a longer post written up, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Half your batting order is classical mismanagement. Don't bitch about Kosuke Fukudome. If he's playing CF and produces like he did last season, he's an average major league centerfielder. That's not a knock. Average is good. Personally, I'd say his production last season is his floor. I'm more confident in him than I am a couple other starters we have.

 

I know I am in the minority on that one though.

uhhhh, what?

 

You can't expect the Cubs to field a team that's made up entirely out of star players. If Fuku plays average next year, he'll be more than adequate for us in CF. Not every player needs to be super awesome. If Fuku plays average, he's still better than some of the crap we've put out there in recent years. There is no way any player on the current roster reproduces the numbers put up in CF last year.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I had a longer post written up, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Half your batting order is classical mismanagement. Don't bitch about Kosuke Fukudome. If he's playing CF and produces like he did last season, he's an average major league centerfielder. That's not a knock. Average is good. Personally, I'd say his production last season is his floor. I'm more confident in him than I am a couple other starters we have.

 

I know I am in the minority on that one though.

uhhhh, what?

 

You can't expect the Cubs to field a team that's made up entirely out of star players. If Fuku plays average next year, he'll be more than adequate for us in CF. Not every player needs to be super awesome. If Fuku plays average, he's still better than some of the crap we've put out there in recent years. There is no way any player on the current roster reproduces the numbers put up in CF last year.

 

That's an awful lot of money for average. Is Fukudome Japanese for "Marquis"?

[jersey cubs fan]

I had a longer post written up, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Half your batting order is classical mismanagement. Don't bitch about Kosuke Fukudome. If he's playing CF and produces like he did last season, he's an average major league centerfielder. That's not a knock. Average is good. Personally, I'd say his production last season is his floor. I'm more confident in him than I am a couple other starters we have.

 

I know I am in the minority on that one though.

uhhhh, what?

 

You can't expect the Cubs to field a team that's made up entirely out of star players. If Fuku plays average next year, he'll be more than adequate for us in CF. Not every player needs to be super awesome. If Fuku plays average, he's still better than some of the crap we've put out there in recent years. There is no way any player on the current roster reproduces the numbers put up in CF last year.

 

That's an awful lot of money for average. Is Fukudome Japanese for "Marquis"?

 

In an organization with nothing in the pipeline to fill the position, and a horrible history of developing their own position players, that could suffice. The thing that held back the Cubs for so many years was well below average production at multiple positions. They'd have a couple stars, or near stars, but teamed up with bums at other spots they still finished in the bottom half, or at the bottom, of run production. If your least productive positions are still average, you can be very good. And there's still room for upside with the guy.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

You shouldn't have to pay that much for average, though. If you do, you won't have much left over for the stars you need to make that plan work.

 

I don't hate Fukudome, but I think if we had a do-over we'd not sign him to that same deal.

[jersey cubs fan]

You shouldn't have to pay that much for average, though.

 

Obviously not. The goal isn't, or wasn't, average though. It was reasonable to expect much more than average from him. If he spends his Cubs career providing nothing but average production, it will definitely be a disappointment. But it wouldn't necessarily cripple the team.

[BigbadB]

Even though Lee was bad he was still better than Kosuke. Why throw Kosuke right back into the fire and put pressure on him? Might as well bat him 7th or 8th until he shows he can be a major league baseball player. I'd go:

Soriano

Fontenot

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Lee

Fukudome

Theriot

 

Against LHP

Soriano

Johnson

Ramirez

Bradley

Soto

Lee

Theriot

Miles

 

When Bradley is hurt, I'm guessing Lou will hit Soriano 5th and move Theriot to the leadoff spot

 

I'm guessing Fukudome will turn things around as early as Spring Training. He's an ideal #2 hitter when he's going well.

[bhogg]

Hindsight is pretty good, guys. Generally speaking, the Fukudome signing was labeled as a good signing. It's not like they signed him with the understanding that he'd suck balls for 2/3 of the year.

 

That rosenbloom lost me at "Theriot -- hit .300. . . .."

 

A guy like Theriot has a place on the team -- fine. Just don't let him hit 9 bazillion times per season. Put him 8th. He's perfect there.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Reading this article only makes me wonder what potential gems of insight we would get from a Rosenbloom & Murph show. Somewhere in radio hell, that show is playing 24/7.

[mul21]

My question is why the hell does he have Miles in there everyday? Isn't it pretty much assumed he'll be the RH halfof a platoon at 2B?