Hill to replace Soto

[jersey cubs fan]

You can tell from your TV?

 

No, the radio.

 

Yes, when I first saw Soto this spring I thought he looked like considerably fatter than last year. This was long before his slump may have caused any retroactive concern about his weight.

[DanzaSlap]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

[jersey cubs fan]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

 

I think the WBC can hurt a pitcher, but I don't see how it could cause a catcher to hit poorly.

[Keener98]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

 

I think the WBC can hurt a pitcher, but I don't see how it could cause a catcher to hit poorly.

 

You dont think sitting on the bench for Puerto Rico and not getting hardly any at bats wouldnt have any correlation to Soto starting out as slow as he did? He had a horrible April, and then put up a much better May, and a fantastic June and had an 842 OPS in July(18 at bats) when he got hurt. Seems pretty obvious to me that April was pretty much Soto's spring training getting 46 at bats, and then he got better each month.

[jersey cubs fan]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

 

I think the WBC can hurt a pitcher, but I don't see how it could cause a catcher to hit poorly.

 

You dont think sitting on the bench for Puerto Rico and not getting hardly any at bats wouldnt have any correlation to Soto starting out as slow as he did? He had a horrible April, and then put up a much better May, and a fantastic June and had an 842 OPS in July(18 at bats) when he got hurt. Seems pretty obvious to me that April was pretty much Soto's spring training getting 46 at bats, and then he got better each month.

 

He's been as bad in August as he was in April. And he had about the same amount of spring training playing time as he did in 2008.

[Keener98]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

 

I think the WBC can hurt a pitcher, but I don't see how it could cause a catcher to hit poorly.

 

You dont think sitting on the bench for Puerto Rico and not getting hardly any at bats wouldnt have any correlation to Soto starting out as slow as he did? He had a horrible April, and then put up a much better May, and a fantastic June and had an 842 OPS in July(18 at bats) when he got hurt. Seems pretty obvious to me that April was pretty much Soto's spring training getting 46 at bats, and then he got better each month.

 

He's been as bad in August as he was in April. And he had about the same amount of spring training playing time as he did in 2008.

 

 

Hes actually 100 points higher in OPS in August than he was in April, and he was coming off an injury that he was out for over a month from. I have a hard time believing he had near the same amount of at bats in spring training 08 that he did in this years spring training/WBC.

[jersey cubs fan]

Many catchers are stocky. It's just part of the position.

 

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that Soto played Puerto Rican winter ball this year AND played in the WBC. Perhaps not the former, but certainly the latter interrupted his normal off-season preparation. I think that could have a lot to do with Soto underperforming this year.

 

I think the WBC can hurt a pitcher, but I don't see how it could cause a catcher to hit poorly.

 

You dont think sitting on the bench for Puerto Rico and not getting hardly any at bats wouldnt have any correlation to Soto starting out as slow as he did? He had a horrible April, and then put up a much better May, and a fantastic June and had an 842 OPS in July(18 at bats) when he got hurt. Seems pretty obvious to me that April was pretty much Soto's spring training getting 46 at bats, and then he got better each month.

 

He's been as bad in August as he was in April. And he had about the same amount of spring training playing time as he did in 2008.

 

 

Hes actually 100 points higher in OPS in August than he was in April, and he was coming off an injury that he was out for over a month from. I have a hard time believing he had near the same amount of at bats in spring training 08 that he did in this years spring training/WBC.

 

He played in 12 games instead of 11 and had a few more ABs last year, according to the espn spring data. Regardless, he had a chance to train and prepare. No, he didn't play in many games, but there weren't that many games to play in. It was a handful. I just don't see how the WBC can be blamed for this. I could see how his personal preperation could be blamed.

[Halman]

I just don't see how the WBC can be blamed for this. I could see how his personal preperation could be blamed.

 

I don't see how you can't blame the WBC it's a horrible horrible event. I'm some jackassed sportswriter and I approve this message.

[UK1679666180]

I just don't see how the WBC can be blamed for this. I could see how his personal preperation could be blamed.

 

I don't see how you can't blame the WBC it's a horrible horrible event. I'm some jackassed sportswriter and I approve this message.

 

While the WBC should be an amateur event and isn't a great set-up in general, Soto still had an opportunity to stay in better shape than he did to where instead of needing to both get into shape and get his timing after the WBC, it could've been just needing to get his timing down.

 

He should be starting simply b/c he is the Cubs long-term C and Hill is a typical weak hitting #2 C, but he should've taken better care of himself going into the season, especially after how hard he worked out initially, got himself into great shape, and then took off production-wise.

[DiamondMind]

Many catchers are stocky.

 

Thanks for the enlightenment there.

[DanzaSlap]

Many catchers are stocky.

 

Thanks for the enlightenment there.

 

You're welcome. It's pretty obvious you can use the baseball lessons.

[Wheelimus]

The only way that anyone gets off the hook for benching Soto for Hill is if they can channel the ghost of Johnnie Cochran and he uses the Chewbacca defense. And even then he might look at you and say "are you stupid or something?" while he tries to think of a way to get OJ out of jail again.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/geovany-sotos-sophomore-jinx/

 

In summary: Soto's batted balls aren't much different, he's actually been better with plate discipline, but he's been about 70 points of BABIP unlucky.

[Prizefight]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/geovany-sotos-sophomore-jinx/

 

In summary: Soto's batted balls aren't much different, he's actually been better with plate discipline, but he's been about 70 points of BABIP unlucky.

 

Bernstein was talking about this yesterday and the math of it is really fascinating to me. Basically, I hope we can assume that Geo is not quite as good as he showed last year, but no where near as bad as he is this year.

 

Especially considering when the league average for BABIP is .290 I believe.

[champaignchris]

This makes no sense in terms of putting the guy out there that gives us the best chance to win. Is there any question which player is more talented?

 

This makes no sense in terms of preparing for the future... Soto is 26, Hill is 30.

 

Only two things would make this make some sort of sense...

 

1. Soto has some lingering injury issue and the Cubs want to give him more rest so that he's healthy going into next year.

 

or

 

2. Soto has some sort of attitude issue and the Cubs are trying to send him a message to shape up or face the loss of playing time.

[jersey cubs fan]

As long as Soto is going to still play, I really don't think this decision means anything. So what if Hill gets more time this year? I think if anything it's a way of motivating Soto to work harder. He'll be back as the starter next year, assuming he works.

[soapy]

Hill starting again today. Day game after a night game. Wasn't this supposed to be a split or something?

 

Lou can eat it.

[jersey cubs fan]

Hill starting again today. Day game after a night game. Wasn't this supposed to be a split or something?

 

Lou can eat it.

 

Hill has an OPS over 1000 the past 4 weeks, Soto is below 500 for the same time period, what's the big deal?

[soapy]

Hill starting again today. Day game after a night game. Wasn't this supposed to be a split or something?

 

Lou can eat it.

 

Hill has an OPS over 1000 the past 4 weeks, Soto is below 500 for the same time period, what's the big deal?

 

It's probably not a big deal in the sense that the season is likely over, but Soto is clearly the better player regardless of what Hill has done the last four weeks. Who do you think is likely to have the better OPS in September?

[jersey cubs fan]

Hill starting again today. Day game after a night game. Wasn't this supposed to be a split or something?

 

Lou can eat it.

 

Hill has an OPS over 1000 the past 4 weeks, Soto is below 500 for the same time period, what's the big deal?

 

It's probably not a big deal in the sense that the season is likely over, but Soto is clearly the better player regardless of what Hill has done the last four weeks. Who do you think is likely to have the better OPS in September?

 

I would guess Soto, but it's no lock, and that doesn't really matter. Hill is hot and Soto is cold, I don't see what is wrong with Hill getting this start.

[soapy]

i'm just not a fan of playing the clearly inferior player, even if he's hot. splitting time for a few weeks or something is one thing but it seems Soto has pretty much been outright benched at this point.

 

regardless, i admit it's probably not worth getting worked up about considering the circumstances.

[Derwood]

This move shouldn't surprise anyone who has been a Cubs fan for a long time. They've pulled the same thing on many of their younger players, under Riggleman, Dusty and now Lou. Granted, those other young players didn't have a ROY award, but this isn't an unprecedented move.