Soriano leaving leadoff spot?

[Arnold Layne]

Lou is strongly implying it in his press conference.

 

I remember awhile ago that Soriano said he was willing to help the team anyway he can. Moving off of leadoff spot for spell could really help the Cubs and Soriano.

 

 

The "wait for Soriano to hit a solo shot" plan hasn't exactly been a recipe for winning playoff games. Move him out of lead off for good.

[Arnold Layne]

I'd take Miles in the starting line up any day before I would take Fuld.

 

Not me.

 

Wait. You would take a guy who got sent down from AAA to AA last year because he wasn't that good to a guy who's been on a MLB roster for quite a while now? I hate Miles but at this point he's better than Fuld. I hope I'm wrong and Fuld continues to play well but odds are that he will be pretty bad eventually.

 

Miles isn't even ML caliber, much less be starting in the lineup. I'm not saying Fuld is, but at least his contract is easier to justify then Miles.

 

That doesn't make him any less of a bad player just because he's cheaper.

 

I'd rather have a bad player and more flexibility than just a bad player.

[Arnold Layne]

I was listening to WGN and Kaplan said his sources told him (yes I know) that Soriano was going to be dropped to 6th in the lineup.

 

BTW, Kaplan was "irate" that Fuld wasn't in the lineup today. He said he should get every chance possible to win a starting job. What a [expletive] idiot.

 

 

Kaplin is OK. Not great, not bad. But he's right on this point. The Cubs outfield is one of the worst in baseball, both in terms of production, defense and salary. If they are not playing well, other players should be given a chance to take those positions. If the goal is a world series, no single player or contract should get in the way of what is best for the team itself.

 

I would much rather see competition and the possibility of fresh faces than guys who just aren't getting it done being placated.

[Arnold Layne]

The answer would not be to put a mediocre career minor leaguer there instead. I'd rather flip-flop Fukudome and Soriano in terms of realistic options.

 

 

How is Fuku any better than a career minor leaguer at this point? This guy nosedives in the second half faster than a kamikazee pilot.

[Arnold Layne]

Fuld is the best candidate.

 

Fuld CF

Theriot SS

Lee 1B

Ramirez 3B

Soriano LF

Fukudome RF

Soto C

Fontenot/Baker 2B

 

Looks good to me. Wait, am I leaving someone out? Oh yeah, but I guess Fox will have to stay on the bench for now.

 

Fuld as in the guy that isn't a good hitter? I'd say that makes him a bad candidate.

 

Fuld as in the hot hand. Besides, we all know it will only last a few games, so why not experiment.

 

Because it's a bad idea.

 

 

Worse than having a guy with a sub .300 OBP in the leadoff spot, and a guy with a .125 OBP in the leadoff spot for the playoffs?

 

Doesn't get much worse than that.

[coldsteel]

Put Fuld in the leadoff spot until he goes 0 for 5 then send him back down, unless Fuld's OBP remains above .380. Pretty simple. With this plan, I won't have to read every other post on this site about how incredibly, unbelievably, god awful Fuld is.

[Drew Doughty]

5 posts in a row must be some kind of board record.

[Careless]

5 posts in a row must be some kind of board record.

You'd have to exclude Fred's posts in gamethreads during horrible losses.

[Butterscup1679666578]

5 posts in a row must be some kind of board record.

You'd have to exclude Fred's posts in gamethreads during horrible losses.

 

I was gonna say, you could go back to the 2006 game threads and see Fred with an entire thread to himself.

[Three Finger]

The answer would not be to put a mediocre career minor leaguer there instead. I'd rather flip-flop Fukudome and Soriano in terms of realistic options.

 

 

How is Fuku any better than a career minor leaguer at this point? This guy nosedives in the second half faster than a kamikazee pilot.

 

That is based on a single season in the majors. He was still doing quite well at this point last year-- perhaps we'll luck out and he'll be more up and down this year than constantly getting worse. His OPS is still .825 with a good .380 OBP. Even in Soriano's best year, his OBP was .351.

[Cubbie Swagger]

Sam Fuld is not a long-term option. He's our backup backup outfielder. We would be better off with Hoff in LF... but it looks like Soriano will be playing, and just dropped down in the lineup. I'm thrilled if that's the case. He was never a good lead-off hitter.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm all for Lou and Hendry being fired now if somehow they could be replaced by an amazing Little Lord Fontenot / Arnold Layne tandem.

[Fred Hornkohl]

5 posts in a row must be some kind of board record.

You'd have to exclude Fred's posts in gamethreads during horrible losses.

 

I was gonna say, you could go back to the 2006 game threads and see Fred with an entire thread to himself.

 

Ha ! Those were the bad old days !!

[Abe Frohman]

The Cubs outfield is one of the worst in baseball, both in terms of production, defense and salary. If they are not playing well, other players should be given a chance to take those positions. If the goal is a world series, no single player or contract should get in the way of what is best for the team itself.

 

I would much rather see competition and the possibility of fresh faces than guys who just aren't getting it done being placated.

 

I totally agree with this. I hope Lou uses Johnson/Fuld in CF, and Fukudome/Bradley in RF. The latter would be pretty expensive for a platoon - but wins are the name of the game.

[Derwood]

1. Bradley

2. Theriot

3. Lee

4. Fox

5. Fukudome

6. Soriano

7. Soto

8. Fontenot

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs outfield is one of the worst in baseball, both in terms of production, defense and salary. If they are not playing well, other players should be given a chance to take those positions. If the goal is a world series, no single player or contract should get in the way of what is best for the team itself.

 

I would much rather see competition and the possibility of fresh faces than guys who just aren't getting it done being placated.

 

I totally agree with this. I hope Lou uses Johnson/Fuld in CF, and Fukudome/Bradley in RF. The latter would be pretty expensive for a platoon - but wins are the name of the game.

 

But the idea of "fresh faces" simply for the sake of something different rings pretty hollow when "fresh faces" means Sam Fuld and...well, basically just Sam Fuld.

 

It's fun seeing what Fuld did in his first 2 games back this season and hopefully he can have a few more flukes along those lines before all is said and done but he needs to be looked at realistically: Fuld is not a good fulltime player. He's a 5th OFer/late inning defensive replacement/pinch runner kind of guy. Look at his minor league numbers. He's simply not good.

 

That is not, however, "excusing" or accepting what the Cubs' OF has largely produced so far this year but replacing any of those players with someone like Sam Fuld is foolish.

 

Fukudome is clearly well past his hot start, but he's shown at times since then that he can still drive the ball so long as he doesn't revert back to his old spinning ways (largely by not planting his front foot before he swings). It is indeed frustrating that he can't consistently do this, but he's shown he can still pull it off and hopefully the visist with his hitting coach will help as it seemingly did earlier this year. Play him in a strict platoon with Reed Johnson getting the starts and AB's against lefties and the CF production should at least be acceptable.

 

With Bradley the asnwer seems even more simple: bat him RH. He's hit righty far less than lefty this season, but the disparity between his numbers from either side of the plate simply cannot be ignored. There very likely could be issues of him simply not being apt to dealing with big market pressure, but so long as his RH numbers are staring this team in the face there's really no excuse to not bat him more from the right side. Yes, the Cubs are infatuated with having those LH bats, but the time has come to try and get what you can any way you can from Milton. Bat him almost always RH and drop him to 6th in the order and focus on him just getting on base for at least a couple weeks and see what happens.

 

Soriano is obviously a huge question mark. He's never been cold for this long in his career so it raises the question of whether or not he's hurt. I've wanted him to get a DL stint with some confidence-boosting rehab games for a while now but it doesn't seem likely unless he hurts himself even more. I'm welcoming the drop in the lineup. Personally, I'd like to see him dropped to 5th as opposed to 6th. On days when they're facing pitchers he has a poor history against or who don't typically play to his strengths I'd like to see Fox get the start in LF.

 

When Aramis comes back I'd like to be seeing something like this:

 

Theriot

Fukudome/Johnson

Lee

Aramis

Soriano/Fox

Bradley

Soto

Blanco/Baker/Fonteot (whichever combo remains after Monday)

Pitcher

 

If Bradley shows some serious turnaround after a couple weeks of batting RH and lower in the order I'd want to consider hitting him #2. If Soriano finally busts out of his funk he should go back to leadoff.

 

Soriano

Bradley

Lee

Aramis

Fukudome/Johnson

Soto

Theriot

Baker/Fontenot/Blanco (same as above)

Pitcher

 

I'd much rather see them try and get creative in terms of getting these guys to start performing at least near what they've shown they're capable of. Sitting them for indeifnite periods for vastly inferior players like Sam Fuld is not the answer. Work with what you have and try to maximize your investments instead of just giving up, because playing Sam Fuld for an extended period of time is basically giving up.

[RedFlash]

[That doesn't make him any less of a bad player just because he's cheaper.

 

I didn't say that, I said I much rather have the bad player with a cheaper contract over the equally bad player with the dumbarse contract.

 

Sam Fuld-ugly contract>Aaron Miles+stupid contract.

[Sammy Sofa]

[That doesn't make him any less of a bad player just because he's cheaper.

 

I didn't say that, I said I much rather have the bad player with a cheaper contract over the equally bad player with the dumbarse contract.

 

Sam Fuld-ugly contract>Aaron Miles+stupid contract.

 

It's a moot point since they play different roles on the team. If you're talking about Blanco over Miles, fine, but Fuld isn't going to replace Miles.

[Arnold Layne]

But the idea of "fresh faces" simply for the sake of something different rings pretty hollow when "fresh faces" means Sam Fuld and...well, basically just Sam Fuld.

 

Eh not really. Hoff plays OF and so can Fox. You seem to be hung up on this Fuld thing.

 

 

It's fun seeing what Fuld did in his first 2 games back this season and hopefully he can have a few more flukes along those lines before all is said and done but he needs to be looked at realistically: Fuld is not a good fulltime player. He's a 5th OFer/late inning defensive replacement/pinch runner kind of guy. Look at his minor league numbers. He's simply not good.

 

Fukudome isn't really a full time player either at this point in his MLB career, yet he's out there. Milton Bradley seems to be a part time player too, yet he is anointed RF.

 

 

That is not, however, "excusing" or accepting what the Cubs' OF has largely produced so far this year but replacing any of those players with someone like Sam Fuld is foolish.

 

Some would say doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is foolish.

 

Fukudome is clearly well past his hot start, but he's shown at times since then that he can still drive the ball so long as he doesn't revert back to his old spinning ways (largely by not planting his front foot before he swings). It is indeed frustrating that he can't consistently do this, but he's shown he can still pull it off and hopefully the visist with his hitting coach will help as it seemingly did earlier this year. Play him in a strict platoon with Reed Johnson getting the starts and AB's against lefties and the CF production should at least be acceptable.

 

There's really not much reason to play Fuku any more at all really. He should be the first Cubs outfielder to go.

 

With Bradley the asnwer seems even more simple: bat him RH. He's hit righty far less than lefty this season, but the disparity between his numbers from either side of the plate simply cannot be ignored. There very likely could be issues of him simply not being apt to dealing with big market pressure, but so long as his RH numbers are staring this team in the face there's really no excuse to not bat him more from the right side. Yes, the Cubs are infatuated with having those LH bats, but the time has come to try and get what you can any way you can from Milton. Bat him almost always RH and drop him to 6th in the order and focus on him just getting on base for at least a couple weeks and see what happens.

 

Makes sense but he'll probably injure himself soon anyway.

 

Soriano is obviously a huge question mark. He's never been cold for this long in his career so it raises the question of whether or not he's hurt. I've wanted him to get a DL stint with some confidence-boosting rehab games for a while now but it doesn't seem likely unless he hurts himself even more. I'm welcoming the drop in the lineup. Personally, I'd like to see him dropped to 5th as opposed to 6th. On days when they're facing pitchers he has a poor history against or who don't typically play to his strengths I'd like to see Fox get the start in LF.

 

 

He needs to be moved to 5th/6th and stay there for good.

 

 

 

Theriot

Fukudome/Johnson

Lee

Aramis

Soriano/Fox

Bradley

Soto

Blanco/Baker/Fonteot (whichever combo remains after Monday)

Pitcher

 

That's about right.

 

If Bradley shows some serious turnaround after a couple weeks of batting RH and lower in the order I'd want to consider hitting him #2. If Soriano finally busts out of his funk he should go back to leadoff.

 

No he shouldn't.

 

 

 

Soriano

Bradley

Lee

Aramis

Fukudome/Johnson

Soto

Theriot

Baker/Fontenot/Blanco (same as above)

Pitcher

 

Hey that looks like the lineup that hasn't worked all year.

 

 

I'd much rather see them try and get creative in terms of getting these guys to start performing at least near what they've shown they're capable of. Sitting them for indeifnite periods for vastly inferior players like Sam Fuld is not the answer.

 

Neither is watching your team go down the drain while doing nothing.

 

 

Work with what you have and try to maximize your investments instead of just giving up, because playing Sam Fuld for an extended period of time is basically giving up.

 

Did your girlfriend cheat on you with a gritty guy?

[Cubbie Swagger]

If Soriano finally busts out of his funk he should go back to leadoff.

When Soriano busts out of his funk, he should still hit 5th or 6th.

 

Once Ramirez gets back, I would go with a lineup like this:

 

1. Theriot - SS

2. Fukudome/Johnson platoon - CF

3. Ramirez - 3B

4. Lee - 1B

5. Bradley - RF

6. Soriano - LF

7. Soto - C

8. Fontenot/Baker platoon - 2B

 

Then, if the second base thing isn't working out and we need offense, I would actually try Soriano at second and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. At least it allows us to get Hoff and Fox into the lineup.

 

1. Theriot - SS

2. Bradley - RF

3. Ramirez - 3B

4. Lee - 1B

5. Hoffpauir/Fox platoon - LF

6. Soriano - 2B

7. Soto - C

8. Fukudome/Johnson platoon - CF

[SouthSideRyan]

The answer would not be to put a mediocre career minor leaguer there instead. I'd rather flip-flop Fukudome and Soriano in terms of realistic options.

 

 

How is Fuku any better than a career minor leaguer at this point? This guy nosedives in the second half faster than a kamikazee pilot.

 

Cause he's Japanese, guys.

[Guest]

Sam Fuld is the new Bobby Scales.

 

Remember when Scales was started off with a line of .444/.474/.833/1.307 line in six games? Well, he followed that up with .150/.277/.300/.577 over his next 19 before getting sent down. Fuld had a couple good games which mean absolutely nothing in terms of future performance.

[Guest]

Wouldn't Bradley be the best candidate?

 

Yes, especially if they let him bat RH.

 

I wouldn't mind putting either Fukudome or Bradley in the leadoff spot. While Bradley certainly hasn't hit the way everyone would have liked so far, he's had a better IsoD so far this year than he's had in any other year in the majors.

 

And as far as moving Soriano out of the leadoff spot, I'd put the over/under at 3.5 games before knee-jerk Lou puts Soriano right back at the top of the order. If Soriano lasts a week anywhere in the lineup besides the leadoff spot, I'll be amazed. I'll also probably be really happy if this happens because it will likely mean that Soriano has hit a little bit so Lou will keep him there.

 

Basically I see two outcomes: 1) Soriano hits and Lou keeps him elsewhere in the order and 2) Soriano doesn't hit and Lou moves him back. I'd love for No. 1 to come true.

[badnews]

People are selling Fuld short too soon. Until he gets up here and actually plays for a while, how do you know he can't pull a Reggie Willits and be useful for a while? There was a time when Fuld, Willits, and Nate McLouth were all in the same boat in the minor leagues.

 

Not saying that's going to happen. I'm saying let's stop pretending like it's a known fact.

[Tracer Bullet]

People are selling Fuld short too soon. Until he gets up here and actually plays for a while, how do you know he can't pull a Reggie Willits and be useful for a while? There was a time when Fuld, Willits, and Nate McLouth were all in the same boat in the minor leagues.

 

Not saying that's going to happen. I'm saying let's stop pretending like it's a known fact.

 

He should give Soriano some rest b/c I'm not sure he's really 100%. And I hope he plays well when he's in there. But are you suggesting we should pull up every crappy minor leaguer in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle for a few months?