Fukudome not terrible??

[Tracer Bullet]

it suggests that Aramis skipped town and we didnt replace him or improve at 1st base either, probably making Soto our best hitter with Castro and Kosuke as 2nd and 3rd, aside from Sorianos hot streaks.

 

 

 

Soto is already our best hitter.

 

He's the most underrated player on the team.

 

Soto. Though Fuku is close.

 

 

If you use wOBA to determine production at the plate (and there's no reason you shouldn't) Geovany Soto has been the 13th best hitter in baseball (min 330 PA). And he hits 8th on one of the worst teams in the league.

 

Soto is underrated by Lou (and now Quade, apparently), but Fukudome is far more underrated by fans.

[Productive Outs]

it suggests that Aramis skipped town and we didnt replace him or improve at 1st base either, probably making Soto our best hitter with Castro and Kosuke as 2nd and 3rd, aside from Sorianos hot streaks.

 

 

 

Soto is already our best hitter.

 

He's the most underrated player on the team.

 

Soto. Though Fuku is close.

 

 

If you use wOBA to determine production at the plate (and there's no reason you shouldn't) Geovany Soto has been the 13th best hitter in baseball (min 330 PA). And he hits 8th on one of the worst teams in the league.

 

Soto is underrated by Lou (and now Quade, apparently), but Fukudome is far more underrated by fans.

 

i went to see the Cubs and Reds game last saturday. while waiting in line at a GAB concession, there were two couples in front of me. one couple were reds fans, and the other couple were cubs fans. they seemed to know each other. anyway, the Cubs dude was talking about how Hendry had traded away our best players, noting Lee, Theriot, and Lilly. he couldn't remember the last player that had been traded, so i helped and out and told him it was Fontenot. he went on to say that although Hendry had traded our best players, he liked Castro and Colvin and said that they could build a team around them. i suggested he put Soto in that category as well, and he said that Soto wasn't as good as Colvin or Castro, but that he was getting better.

 

the whole conversation made me want to shoot myself.

[Tracer Bullet]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

[risico]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

 

Soto's not a good fielder. Castro has the chance to be at least an average SS. Plus Soto is going to earn more money over the next 5+ years, so I would say Castro will be more valuable.

 

But Castro will have to improve quite a bit at the plate to do that.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'd say both Soto and Castro are at least average fielders right now.

[Tracer Bullet]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

 

Soto's not a good fielder. Castro has the chance to be at least an average SS. Plus Soto is going to earn more money over the next 5+ years, so I would say Castro will be more valuable.

 

But Castro will have to improve quite a bit at the plate to do that.

 

Why is Soto not a good fielder? I'd say Castro has a chance to be better than average if he's around average at 20.

[illiniguy]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

 

Soto's not a good fielder. Castro has the chance to be at least an average SS. Plus Soto is going to earn more money over the next 5+ years, so I would say Castro will be more valuable.

 

But Castro will have to improve quite a bit at the plate to do that.

 

Why is Soto not a good fielder? I'd say Castro has a chance to be better than average if he's around average at 20.

I love how in '08 everyone raved about how great a fielder Geo was. Now that Lou needed a reason to play Hill for half of two years we get the myth of Geo can't field. Awesome work.

[MSG T]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

 

Soto's not a good fielder. Castro has the chance to be at least an average SS. Plus Soto is going to earn more money over the next 5+ years, so I would say Castro will be more valuable.

 

But Castro will have to improve quite a bit at the plate to do that.

 

Why is Soto not a good fielder? I'd say Castro has a chance to be better than average if he's around average at 20.

I love how in '08 everyone raved about how great a fielder Geo was. Now that Lou needed a reason to play Hill for half of two years we get the myth of Geo can't field. Awesome work.

 

Wasn't Soto originally, before he figured out he can hit, on the fast track to the majors based on his defense? I doubt his defense has taken a drastic turn for the worse in the last 2 seasons.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

It's the classic Fan Formula of Defensive Value

 

A player's defense is defined as equal to the difference between what offensive stats say the player is worth and what the fan wants to believe the player is worth.

[Guest]

yeah, fans are idiots. And I think last year took some of the shine off of Soto (and Lou's hesitancy to play him like an every day catcher hasn't helped). Maybe he's underrated by the general fan base now.

 

though both are superior to Colvin, I wonder who will be more valuable to the Cubs for the next 5+ years: Soto or Castro? If Castro continues to develop power as he gets stronger, you may be picking between a .900 OPS catcher and a .900 OPS shortstop. Please don't screw this up, Hendry.

 

Soto's not a good fielder. Castro has the chance to be at least an average SS. Plus Soto is going to earn more money over the next 5+ years, so I would say Castro will be more valuable.

 

But Castro will have to improve quite a bit at the plate to do that.

 

Why is Soto not a good fielder? I'd say Castro has a chance to be better than average if he's around average at 20.

I love how in '08 everyone raved about how great a fielder Geo was. Now that Lou needed a reason to play Hill for half of two years we get the myth of Geo can't field. Awesome work.

 

Wasn't Soto originally, before he figured out he can hit, on the fast track to the majors based on his defense? I doubt his defense has taken a drastic turn for the worse in the last 2 seasons.

 

Yeah. The organization raved about his ability to handle pitchers.

[Flames24Rulz]

Yeah. The organization raved about his ability to handle pitchers.

 

Yep, that's what I always bring up to the people that say Geo isn't a good defender. The stereotype that Soto isn't good on defense has been planted firmly in many people's heads.

 

I think Soto's defense has actually been pretty solid this season.

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

[Soul]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

[illiniguy]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know.

[Northside Blues]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know.

 

I hear that that Joe Mauer guy still plays. I might be mistaken.

[fromthestretch]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know.

 

I hear that that Joe Mauer guy still plays. I might be mistaken.

 

I think he's talking about how Soto leads all catchers (min. 350 plate appearances) in OPS this season...by a decent margin.

[MSG T]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know.

 

I hear that that Joe Mauer guy still plays. I might be mistaken.

 

Geo says hi.

 

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS

Geo - .284/.399/.521/.920

Mauer - .324/.402/.470/.872

[illiniguy]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

I'm happy with where Soto's at right now.

Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know.

 

I hear that that Joe Mauer guy still plays. I might be mistaken.

Yeah he does. He's still not been as good as Geo this year.

[Exile on Waveland]

yeah but he dropped that one ball on a play at the plate that one time!

 

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too.

 

Me too. Ugh.

[biittner77]

I'm not sure which is worse: the myth that Soto can't play defense or that Hill can.

[MSG T]

I'm not sure which is worse: the myth that Soto can't play defense or that Hill can.

 

That Hill can. That's the only reason he's on the Cubs.

[TruffleShuffle]

wait hill is bad defensively? granted he's nowhere near good enough to justify his presence on a major league roster, but i think he's all right behind the plate.

[Outshined_One]

wait hill is bad defensively? granted he's nowhere near good enough to justify his presence on a major league roster, but i think he's all right behind the plate.

 

He does a decent job in terms of fielding, blocking pitches, and calling games...but his CS% this season is 13.9%, which is pretty awful.

[soapy]

Hill is fine defensively (better than that). He's just not vastly superior to Geo defensively as people like to pretend. Certainly not enough to even come close to making up the massive gap between them offensively.

[biittner77]

Hill is fine defensively (better than that). He's just not vastly superior to Geo defensively as people like to pretend. Certainly not enough to even come close to making up the massive gap between them offensively.

 

Yes, this. Someone as bad as Koyie Hill offensively had better be absurdly awesome defensively and Hill just isn't. I'm not convinced he's any better defensively than Soto who always had a good defensive rep. while in the minors.