Is anyone remotely excited for this season?

[jersey cubs fan]

My point is that hitting will improve simply because Soriano and Ramirez aren't injured anymore. Soriano turned in his career-worst OPS last year of .726, 150 points less than it was in 2008 and over 100 points worse than his career average. Do people really think he just forgot how to hit?

 

Again, discounting injuries of oft-injured players is a foolish. Why would you assume they play a full healthy season this year? They are old players with frequent health problems, the reasonable bet is they miss time this year. As for Soriano "forgetting how to hit", he never knew how, he simply counted on his physical abilities and had a horrible approach. The older he gets, the less he's going to be able to count on his physical abilities to make up for his horrible approach. It's not like disappointing seasons are something new for Soriano. For one, it's a pipe dream to pretend last year was all about the injury. He was fine enough to play, and he sucked. He's been disappointing before, he's well past his prime and he has a horrible approach at the plate, that is not a recipe for a guy guaranteed to have a strong bounceback season at 34.

 

They might have a better offensive season this year, but there's no reason why they should see a large improvement.

[dew1679666265]

Jaramillo might not be a miracle worker, but he certainly could help players like Fontenot, Soto, Baker, Soriano, and Colvin assuming they will listen to him and follow his advice.

 

I've said this before, but my hope is that with Jaramillo being so good at fixing the mechanics of players he'll be able to keep Fukudome out of those long slumps he tends to have. Kosuke gets some bad mechanics in his swing at times and that's led to his overall numbers getting worse. Each time his Japanese instructor has arrived, though, he's fixed those mechanics.

 

Hopefully Jaramillo can fix that.

[JonJayCutler]

My point is that hitting will improve simply because Soriano and Ramirez aren't injured anymore. Soriano turned in his career-worst OPS last year of .726, 150 points less than it was in 2008 and over 100 points worse than his career average. Do people really think he just forgot how to hit?

 

Again, discounting injuries of oft-injured players is a foolish. Why would you assume they play a full healthy season this year? They are old players with frequent health problems, the reasonable bet is they miss time this year. As for Soriano "forgetting how to hit", he never knew how, he simply counted on his physical abilities and had a horrible approach. The older he gets, the less he's going to be able to count on his physical abilities to make up for his horrible approach. It's not like disappointing seasons are something new for Soriano. For one, it's a pipe dream to pretend last year was all about the injury. He was fine enough to play, and he sucked. He's been disappointing before, he's well past his prime and he has a horrible approach at the plate, that is not a recipe for a guy guaranteed to have a strong bounceback season at 34.

 

They might have a better offensive season this year, but there's no reason why they should see a large improvement.

 

That's why I used the word "should". They should see an improvement, the exception being if they have another year full of injuries like last year. Also, saying Soriano never knew how to hit is ridiculous. The Soriano hate around here needs to stop. There is a difference between hating a player's contract and hating the player. Just about everyone here hates his contract, but that doesn't mean you can't show respect for the good baseball player that he is/was.

[jersey cubs fan]

That's why I used the word "should". They should see an improvement, the exception being if they have another year full of injuries like last year. Also, saying Soriano never knew how to hit is ridiculous. The Soriano hate around here needs to stop. There is a difference between hating a player's contract and hating the player. Just about everyone here hates his contract, but that doesn't mean you can't show respect for the good baseball player that he is/was.

 

Show respect? Give me a freaking break, what a stupid comment. He sucked last year. He was grossly overrated due to his ties to the Yankees and all the morons who get giddy about 40/40 nonsense. He has a horrible approach at the plate and was always a terrific candidate to fall apart with the Cubs. I can hate him if I want to.

[David]

That's why I used the word "should". They should see an improvement, the exception being if they have another year full of injuries like last year. Also, saying Soriano never knew how to hit is ridiculous. The Soriano hate around here needs to stop. There is a difference between hating a player's contract and hating the player. Just about everyone here hates his contract, but that doesn't mean you can't show respect for the good baseball player that he is/was.

 

Show respect? Give me a freaking break, what a stupid comment. He sucked last year. He was grossly overrated due to his ties to the Yankees and all the morons who get giddy about 40/40 nonsense. He has a horrible approach at the plate and was always a terrific candidate to fall apart with the Cubs. I can hate him if I want to.

 

 

Yea... I can safely say I wasn't a fan of Alfonso Soriano, the player, long before we gave him lots of money. That doesn't mean he wasn't productive. I just hated and hate his game.

[JonJayCutler]

I just don't understand it. The guy was a force here in 07 and 08, then has a bad season because he plays through an injury, and now he is regarded as a bad player who never knew how to hit? He has been nothing but great off the field and in the clubhouse. So what is there to hate besides his contract? Not everyone is going to have a picture perfect approach at the plate.

 

Here come the posts about how he wasn't that good in 07 and 08. :roll:

[dew1679666265]

I just don't understand it. The guy was a force here in 07 and 08, then has a bad season because he plays through an injury, and now he is regarded as a bad player who never knew how to hit? He has been nothing but great off the field and in the clubhouse. So what is there to hate besides his contract? Not everyone is going to have a picture perfect approach at the plate.

 

Here come the posts about how he wasn't that good in 07 and 08. :roll:

 

I think the problem is more his approach. He's never been a real patient hitter and, thus, has never had a high OBP (career .326 OBP). He's always relied heavily on his athletic ability to succeed and now that his athletic ability is declining, his doesn't have the patience and fundamentals (I guess?) to remain a quality hitter.

 

He was definitely very good in 2007 and 2008, but still his OBP in those years was .337 and .344. Considering his very high SLG, those were fine, but as the slugging has dropped, the low OBP has stood out more.

 

I still think he can improve and be at least a solid offensive player for us, but I don't know if he's a high .800s OPS guy.

[Backtobanks]

I just don't understand it. The guy was a force here in 07 and 08, then has a bad season because he plays through an injury, and now he is regarded as a bad player who never knew how to hit? He has been nothing but great off the field and in the clubhouse. So what is there to hate besides his contract? Not everyone is going to have a picture perfect approach at the plate.

 

Here come the posts about how he wasn't that good in 07 and 08. :roll:

 

Soriano is the epitome of a streaky hitter. He does have a bad approach and mechanics and when you put those together with the leg injury for much of the season you get the kind of year he had in 2009. I don't expect 40 HR, but I do expect a rebound season with his age factored in.

[jersey cubs fan]

I just don't understand it. The guy was a force here in 07 and 08, then has a bad season because he plays through an injury, and now he is regarded as a bad player who never knew how to hit? He has been nothing but great off the field and in the clubhouse. So what is there to hate besides his contract? Not everyone is going to have a picture perfect approach at the plate.

 

Here come the posts about how he wasn't that good in 07 and 08. :roll:

 

He certainly wasn't a force.

 

Not picture perfect is an asinine way to describe it. He's got about as bad an approach as you can get while still being a professional.

[Sammy Sofa]

He was a "force" in that he was a critical part of both seasons.

[jersey cubs fan]

He was a "force" in that he was a critical part of both seasons.

 

Sure, he was a good player. I don't see why we have to pretend he was a force though. And I don't see why I have to respect what he's done in his career mostly with other teams when he's been one of the most overhyped players of this past decade, and that hype led directly to a horrific contract.

 

If some mediocre player makes a little more money than he should, you can't really be that upset at him. Especially if he plays to expectations. But when a guy who wasn't close to deserve franchise money gets a franchise crippling contract and he sucks, there's no reason why I can't complain. And don't give me this injury nonsense. If he was well enough to play, he should have been well enough to not be completely incompotent.

[Sammy Sofa]

He was a "force" in that he was a critical part of both seasons.

 

Sure, he was a good player. I don't see why we have to pretend he was a force though.

 

I'm not saying that you or anyone else has to in the sense of him being a truly exceptional player. The reality is, however, that he is a "force" in terms of how this team has been constructed. If he can't get back to his old (albeit streaky and obviously flawed) ways then this team is likely screwed unless Nady can rebound from his surgery and/or Colvin continues being a miracle. He's a "force" in that this team is likely sunk if he sucks.

[Rob]

Soriano wasn't a force in 2007 and 2008?

 

Only Aramis was more valuable over those two years according to WAR. And Soriano's 5.6 WAR in 2007 was the highest total anybody on this team has had since DLee's monster 2005 season (DLee's big year last year was good for a 5.3 WAR).

 

Yes, he was awful last year playing through an injury. But figuring we are in line for anything less than a rebound from the production we got in left last year is silly for plenty of reasons... not the least of which is that if he continues to play below replacement level like last year, even the Cubs would be forced to bench him.

 

We will have better production in LF this season than we did last year. I'd bet my left nut on it.

[A New Era]

I am excited for the future as long as Hendry is not able to do any more damage to our payroll or the farm. So he must be gone right as the season ends or before.

 

But I am not excited for this season. The Cubs are going to have to have a 5-6 game winning streak before I am the least bit interested in watching any more games this season.