5/2 Post-Game: Soriano is Hot

[jersey cubs fan]

I think the fans take their cues from the idiot media. Stupid [expletive] like Kaplan hate Soriano, therefore the fans boo him. Raging buffoons like Kaplan like Theriot, therefore they love the way he plays the game.

 

I think that plays a part, but it probably just makes things better and/or worse, rather than forming the opinion in the first place.

 

Soriano was destined to be booed. He's never been as good as his pre-Cubs reputation suggested he was, his contract was insane, and his high strikeout free swinging approach riles fans regardless. Kaplan piling on makes it worse, but it didn't create the monster.

[Guest]

I think the fans take their cues from the idiot media. Stupid [expletive] like Kaplan hate Soriano, therefore the fans boo him. Raging buffoons like Kaplan like Theriot, therefore they love the way he plays the game.

 

I'm not a fan of Theroit's, but he's played very well so far this season. I keep waiting for him to suck though.

He has pretty much sucked so far, but the balls have been finding holes.

[bushwoodcc]

I think the fans take their cues from the idiot media. Stupid [expletive] like Kaplan hate Soriano, therefore the fans boo him. Raging buffoons like Kaplan like Theriot, therefore they love the way he plays the game.

 

I think that plays a part, but it probably just makes things better and/or worse, rather than forming the opinion in the first place.

 

Soriano was destined to be booed. He's never been as good as his pre-Cubs reputation suggested he was, his contract was insane, and his high strikeout free swinging approach riles fans regardless. Kaplan piling on makes it worse, but it didn't create the monster.

 

 

Soriano gets killed because he's streaky and once he goes cold, he has nothing to fall back on. His defense is awful and he doesn't even attempt to steal anymore, which drives me insane. Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.

[Sammy Sofa]

Probably because everyone looks at Abreu and assumes he's a big fat load.

[jersey cubs fan]

Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.

 

Maybe he realizes SB are overrated and he's not nearly as fast as he used to be. Plus, he doesn't want to risk ruining his legs anymore. Soriano stole bases much like he hit, based on physical gifts. Abreu has always had an approach at the plate, and that is quite possibly carried into his running.

[erik316wttn]

I think the fans take their cues from the idiot media. Stupid [expletive] like Kaplan hate Soriano, therefore the fans boo him. Raging buffoons like Kaplan like Theriot, therefore they love the way he plays the game.

 

I'm not a fan of Theroit's, but he's played very well so far this season. I keep waiting for him to suck though.

He has pretty much sucked so far, but the balls have been finding holes.

 

That's what she said.

[bushwoodcc]

Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.

 

Maybe he realizes SB are overrated and he's not nearly as fast as he used to be. Plus, he doesn't want to risk ruining his legs anymore. Soriano stole bases much like he hit, based on physical gifts. Abreu has always had an approach at the plate, and that is quite possibly carried into his running.

 

Risk ruining his legs? It's running, not like running into walls. Soriano has already used this defense for his defensive problems. How are SB's overrated when you play on a team that has NO legitimate threat of a stealing a base outside of Ryan Theriot(who's success rate is terrible in his career)? Abreu's approach at the plate has nothing to do with his running.

[Sammy Sofa]

They're still overrated in general in terms of how valuable they are to a team. One can easily have a very good team that rarely steals bases. Besides that, what Soriano can do with the bat is far more valuable than the bases he can steal. It seems that his leg injury last year impacted his performance at the plate, so why tempt that fate again by having him do something that ultimately doesn't do much to help a team win ball games? I'd happily see Soriano never steal a base again so long as it meant we'd get more of him hitting 30+ home runs a season, especially since he's showing he doesn't have to be in the leadoff spot to hit this well. Him driving in a ton of runs with his hot streaks is so much more valuable than being able to steal bases.

[jersey cubs fan]

Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.

 

Maybe he realizes SB are overrated and he's not nearly as fast as he used to be. Plus, he doesn't want to risk ruining his legs anymore. Soriano stole bases much like he hit, based on physical gifts. Abreu has always had an approach at the plate, and that is quite possibly carried into his running.

 

Risk ruining his legs? It's running, not like running into walls. Soriano has already used this defense for his defensive problems. How are SB's overrated when you play on a team that has NO legitimate threat of a stealing a base outside of Ryan Theriot(who's success rate is terrible in his career)? Abreu's approach at the plate has nothing to do with his running.

 

They are overrated because some fans, media types and even baseball people obsess over them and their importance out of proportion to their actual value.

 

Stealing a base isn't just running, it's a straight sprint and a hard slide at the end. And Soriano has been dealing with leg problems since coming here.

 

My point on Abreu is that while he's not a burner, he steals bases by taking them at the right time, much like he only swings at the right pitches to swing at. Soriano has always swung at everything, and it's quite possible that he only stole bases due to his raw speed, which is something he could count on in his 20's, but not as much in his 30's, post injury.

[bushwoodcc]

They're still overrated in general in terms of how valuable they are to a team. One can easily have a very good team that rarely steals bases. Besides that, what Soriano can do with the bat is far more valuable than the bases he can steal. It seems that his leg injury last year impacted his performance at the plate, so why tempt that fate again by having him do something that ultimately doesn't do much to help a team win ball games? I'd happily see Soriano never steal a base again so long as it meant we'd get more of him hitting 30+ home runs a season, especially since he's showing he doesn't have to be in the leadoff spot to hit this well. Him driving in a ton of runs with his hot streaks is so much more valuable than being able to steal bases.

 

 

Agree that Soriano is most valuable to this team when he is swinging the bat. When he's hot like he is now, there's not many better. However, he gets criticized more than most because a large part of his ridiculous deal was based on speed and "igniting an offense" In that regard, he has failed miserably. True, some of this is due to injuries. I just feel that if he is healthy again, he should be more of a threat on the base paths.

[Sammy Sofa]

Again, it's pretty backwards to blame the guy for taking a ton of money dropped on his lap and for the wrongheaded expectations of the organization that gave him the money. It would be one thing if the signed him in his 20's, but if they seriously expected that he'd keep stealing bases for a while after signing him on the wrong side of 30, well, that's just dumb. I mean, this is the organization that thought bringing Milton Bradley here as some kind of clobbering RBI machine was the right thing to do based on one year of mashing the hell out of the ball.

 

Slamming Soriano for not "igniting the offense" with steals is [expletive] because he can singlehandedly carry the team when he's hot, which is far more apparent than the ridiculous intangibles of a guy "inspiring the team" or "causing havoc" because of his speed. You know what does a much better job of igniting the offense and causing havoc? Beating the [expletive] out of the ball. You know what has a good chance of getting Soriano hurt and keeping him from beating the [expletive] out of the ball? Unnecessarily stealing bases.

[bushwoodcc]

Again, it's pretty backwards to blame the guy for taking a ton of money dropped on his lap and for the wrongheaded expectations of the organization that gave him the money. It would be one thing if the signed him in his 20's, but if they seriously expected that he'd keep stealing bases for a while after signing him on the wrong side of 30, well, that's just dumb. I mean, this is the organization that thought bringing Milton Bradley here as some kind of clobbering RBI machine was the right thing to do based on one year of mashing the hell out of the ball.

 

Slamming Soriano for not "igniting the offense" with steals is [expletive] because he can singlehandedly carry the team when he's hot, which is far more apparent than the ridiculous intangibles of a guy "inspiring the team" or "causing havoc" because of his speed. You know what does a much better job of igniting the offense and causing havoc? Beating the [expletive] out of the ball. You know what has a good chance of getting Soriano hurt and keeping him from beating the [expletive] out of the ball? Unnecessarily stealing bases.

 

 

I'm not blaming the guy for taking the money. Shame on this organization for giving it to him. My point was that he was handed that ridiculous deal to be the same type of player he was in Washington. A top of the order hitter with the rare combo of speed and power. When he goes cold, there's really nothing left. His defense is always going to be bad and obviously the Cubs are content on treating Soriano like Soto, when Alfonso gets on base. To me, that is a joke.

[Guest]

Again, it's pretty backwards to blame the guy for taking a ton of money dropped on his lap and for the wrongheaded expectations of the organization that gave him the money. It would be one thing if the signed him in his 20's, but if they seriously expected that he'd keep stealing bases for a while after signing him on the wrong side of 30, well, that's just dumb. I mean, this is the organization that thought bringing Milton Bradley here as some kind of clobbering RBI machine was the right thing to do based on one year of mashing the hell out of the ball.

 

Slamming Soriano for not "igniting the offense" with steals is [expletive] because he can singlehandedly carry the team when he's hot, which is far more apparent than the ridiculous intangibles of a guy "inspiring the team" or "causing havoc" because of his speed. You know what does a much better job of igniting the offense and causing havoc? Beating the [expletive] out of the ball. You know what has a good chance of getting Soriano hurt and keeping him from beating the [expletive] out of the ball? Unnecessarily stealing bases.

 

 

I'm not blaming the guy for taking the money. Shame on this organization for giving it to him. My point was that he was handed that ridiculous deal to be the same type of player he was in Washington. A top of the order hitter with the rare combo of speed and power. When he goes cold, there's really nothing left. His defense is always going to be bad and obviously the Cubs are content on treating Soriano like Soto, when Alfonso gets on base. To me, that is a joke.

 

What's better? Soriano on the DL because of leg problems from attempting to take an extra base or Soriano in the everyday starting line up and not taking careless extra bases due to his recent leg injury history?

[XZero771679666304]

Which thread was it with all the Soriano photoshops from last year?

[chuckywang]

I think the fans take their cues from the idiot media. Stupid [expletive] like Kaplan hate Soriano, therefore the fans boo him. Raging buffoons like Kaplan like Theriot, therefore they love the way he plays the game.

 

I think that plays a part, but it probably just makes things better and/or worse, rather than forming the opinion in the first place.

 

Soriano was destined to be booed. He's never been as good as his pre-Cubs reputation suggested he was, his contract was insane, and his high strikeout free swinging approach riles fans regardless. Kaplan piling on makes it worse, but it didn't create the monster.

 

 

Soriano gets killed because he's streaky and once he goes cold, he has nothing to fall back on. His defense is awful and he doesn't even attempt to steal anymore, which drives me insane. Someone tell me how Bobby Abreu manages to steal 20-25 bases a year with ease and Soriano won't even approach 10-15 this year? Again, from all reports Soriano is fully healthy.

 

Soriano hits so many HRs that he doesn't have the chance to steal bases.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not blaming the guy for taking the money. Shame on this organization for giving it to him. My point was that he was handed that ridiculous deal to be the same type of player he was in Washington. A top of the order hitter with the rare combo of speed and power. When he goes cold, there's really nothing left. His defense is always going to be bad and obviously the Cubs are content on treating Soriano like Soto, when Alfonso gets on base. To me, that is a joke.

 

Why is it a joke? It was obvious at the time that his year in DC was a career year. And complaining that he can't steal when he "goes cold" is redundant since when he goes cold he's lucky to even just get on base in the first place, so acting like his ability was some kind of added weapon he could use when he goes in a hitting slump makes no sense at all. The stealing ability would be nice to have, but it's hardly essential for him to be an incredibly valuable player to this team. Now he's a middle of the order guy with power who can (ideally) knock in a ton of runs.

[17 Seconds]

soriano was caught stealing 17 times in his season with washington. he didn't add much value at all with his base stealing that year

[A New Era]

I love Soriano when he's locked in. I don't like him when he's not. Point is I don't hate him nor would I boo him. Sure he does admire his HRs most of the time, however I do believe he really does try to do his best every day. He just has some bad habbits. I don't think he's an asshat and don't think he deserves getting booed just for some reason about "not living up to his contract".

 

I just wish he wouldn't have those terrible cold streaks. If he didn't he could be one of the elites. But he is what he is, and he's a Cub for a long time. So just hope for the best with him.

[Soul]

He's a hot/cold player. This is nothing new.

 

What was mildly bothersome was that some in the media were acting like Soriano's slow start wasn't another cold streak, but rather proof that he was simply not capable anymore. There wasn't any evidence of that.

[Derwood]

Which thread was it with all the Soriano photoshops from last year?

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54954&start=73

 

I started it with the photoshops, but there are 70ish posts before it. It was truly excellent work by everyone involved

[Old Style]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/krkhinrich/sorihitlerberg.jpg

 

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[jersey cubs fan]

What was mildly bothersome was that some in the media were acting like Soriano's slow start wasn't another cold streak, but rather proof that he was simply not capable anymore. There wasn't any evidence of that.

 

I'm going to have to disagree. The guy sucked cold butt for a full year. There was plenty of reason to doubt whether he could return to his top form.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Not sure how I missed that thread when it happened, but this produced a big belly laugh.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/8191/soriyoko.jpg

[chuckywang]

I hope this ends all talk that Soriano hits best leading off.

[jersey cubs fan]

I hope this ends all talk that Soriano hits best leading off.

 

Never should have been a topic in the first place.