Soriano's Defense

[apete6]

The combination of small sample size and great positioning by the Cubs coaching staff has led to Soriano being the best defensive player in baseball so far. Awesome.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&players=0

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Soriano's never really been a terrible defensive OFer in the first place. He's actually pretty well liked by whatever Fangraphs uses (UZR?).

 

He does have a tendency to look awkward doing it.

[apete6]

Soriano's never really been a terrible defensive OFer in the first place. He's actually pretty well liked by whatever Fangraphs uses (UZR?).

 

He does have a tendency to look awkward doing it.

 

Completely agree. His athleticism and arm have made him overall a decent defender. His limited OF experience has also made him look awkward and have several WTF? moments.

 

If he had hit and run like he was supposed to (or paid to?), his defense never would have been an issue here or anywhere.

[BeerHere]

Soriano's never really been a terrible defensive OFer in the first place. He's actually pretty well liked by whatever Fangraphs uses (UZR?).

 

He does have a tendency to look awkward doing it.

 

Completely agree. His athleticism and arm have made him overall a decent defender. His limited OF experience has also made him look awkward and have several WTF? moments.

 

If he had hit and run like he was supposed to (or paid to?), his defense never would have been an issue here or anywhere.

Is he really that athletic anymore?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Is he really that athletic anymore?

 

For LF he is. There's a lot of ugly stiffs out there around the majors.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Now if they can just get him to start hitting again.

[Backtobanks]

Soriano's never really been a terrible defensive OFer in the first place. He's actually pretty well liked by whatever Fangraphs uses (UZR?).

 

He does have a tendency to look awkward doing it.

 

That and his aversion to bricks and ivy.

[champaignchris]

Soriano's never really been a terrible defensive OFer in the first place. He's actually pretty well liked by whatever Fangraphs uses (UZR?).

 

He does have a tendency to look awkward doing it.

 

That and his aversion to bricks and ivy.

 

And health or lack thereof at times.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I've mentioned this before, but I thought the last few years he's been decent going side-to-side and pretty solid at coming in on balls. He's just been pretty awful at anything hit over his head.

 

So one of the first things the Cubs' new regime did is have him play deeper. /obvious

 

It's stuff like that that reassures me when I worry that the competitive advantages of smart management are getting too small to be meaningful.