Sammy Sofa

Depends on how "far" you're moving them off-position. Personally I don't think someone like Kemp moving from CF to a corner OF spot would be a dealbreaker. Soriano isn't that good of an example since you're talking about a dicey defender bounced from being a middle infielder to being an outfielder. Moving from CF to RF isn't as drastic for someone who has been an OF his entire MLB career. Now, I'm not declaring that Kemp will do this or that he would be fine doing so, but on the scale of moving guys from their traditional position it seems relatively minor (plus I think he's actually better suited defensively for a corner OF spot anyway).

That's going to be tough to do seeing as he'd be blocked by the big Justin Upton trade of 2012/2013. Why are the Diamondbacks going to be doing such a thing? Yeah, he's going to be getting a lot more expensive, but he'd be under control for three more seasons if they trade him at that point. I doubt they want to pay him, but if he has another year like this or better teams are going to be foaming at the mouth coming after him. What type of package are the Cubs likely able to come up with (and more importantly, one they can spare) to get him under such circumstances? Yeah well....g'luck moving Kemp out of CF. As far as a package...I actually think with a good 2012 the Cubs will be in at least a decent position to make a blockbuster trade. The system has talent, it's just mostly talent that hasn't broken out. We also saw in the Garza trade that the Cubs are willing to pay a good price for talent they want. The D'Backs will lose their 4 best non-Upton position players by 2014, including their starting middle infield by next year. So there's an outside shot...A long outside shot...but yeah otherwise that's the player I want. I'd like him, too, but the Cubs are going to need some serious breaking out in the farm in the next year to pull off a trade like that in the timeframe you've set up. It's less that I don't think the Diamondbacks will move him so much as I think other teams will be more like to trump anything the Cubs can offer, and rather handily, too. I think it's safe to assume Upton is easily going to command a LOT more than Garza if he has another year like this or better and the Diamondbacks are willing to trade him when he's still under control for three entire seasons. And I'm rarely concerned about getting a player to move to a different defensive spot if they're getting a ton of money; nine times out of ten they'll do it. It's not like the Cubs would be asking Kemp to DH or move to 1B or something like that.

Castro had an ugly slash line when batting third. He also had an ugly slash line when facing a starting pitcher for the second time (but not the first or third). He was pretty bad in the third and seventh innings. And the month of July. Those just look like statistical noise to me. Maybe, maybe not. I don't think I'm presenting an unreasonable conclusion by stating that I think lineup instability can effect a player's performance, especially a flawed player like Soriano (or a younger, developing player like Castro). That might be more based on who is hitting around them in certain spots, sure, but it's not that much of a stretch. Again, my main point here is that this is just yet another end result of Quade's crappy lineup managing. The usual suspects will bitch and moan about "how dare Soriano open his mouth like this," but hell, in a roundabout way he's right.

That's going to be tough to do seeing as he'd be blocked by the big Justin Upton trade of 2012/2013. Why are the Diamondbacks going to be doing such a thing? Yeah, he's going to be getting a lot more expensive, but he'd be under control for three more seasons if they trade him at that point. I doubt they want to pay him, but if he has another year like this or better teams are going to be foaming at the mouth coming after him. What type of package are the Cubs likely able to come up with (and more importantly, one they can spare) to get him under such circumstances?

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/22/mvp-candidate-matt-kemp-likely-to-seek-extension-with-dodgers/ Yeah, good luck with that. He better hopes a sale goes through real quick if he expects to be playing for the Dodgers for anything even remotely close to what he's worth.

Despite the ridiculous season he's probably the #3 Dodgers story to the ownership situation and Clayton Kershaw. Then he might not even be the best/most exciting young OFer in the division. Justin Upton is 3 years younger, had more hype coming into the big leagues, and is putting up close to a 7 WAR season as a 23(!) year old. I can't say I'm a Kemp fan (mostly because I think he's a choppy CF who's more of a COF going to get franchise CF money to play CF), but it's definitely not fair. If he was on the Yankees or Red Sox doing this... Edit: Speaking of Upton...in doing "research" for this post I found out his BABIP of .320 is actually below his career norm (.332 or .333 I forget). The upside in this guy.... That's probably part of it... not playing in New York or Boston. Yeah, those small market LA teams always get screwed by the media I didn't say "media." I said "ESPN." And I'm talking about the Dodgers, not any other team in any other sport. It's well known that ESPN has a bias toward the Yankees and Red Sox. Reading comprehension is your friend. Try it sometime. Yeah, it's not like they broadcasting SportsCenter partially from LA now or anything.

There is zero evidence to this. How are you so sure? Check out Castro, Byrd and Soto's splits, just like I said in the post you quoted. All three had lineup slots where they saw significant time this year where they hit well below what is expected from them. I'm pretty damn confident that bouncing a player around different slots in the lineup beyond covering for someone getting a game off, an injury or favorable splits isn't going to translate to favorable numbers across the board. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that relative lineup stability can help a player.

Such is the life of a 6/7 hitter though. A team cannot afford to keep a guy like that in one spot all year long. If Soriano is a 7th hitter normally, he needs to move up to 5th or 6th when injuries/days off (especially for somebody like Soto) happen. And to have one of the middle of the order hitters out happens a lot during the season. It would be nice if he could stay in one spot all year long, but it isn't very realistic. The main way you can keep everybody in their preferred lineup order is to drop in the replacement in the same spot in the batting order as the regular, and that isn't a great tactic either. Personally I don't think he should have been hitting 7th this year. In no way am I defending him as some kind of great or consistent hitter, but given the resources available I don't know why they didn't just have him consistently hit out of the 6th spot like he did last year. Again, the main thing I take away from this is just how poorly Quade managed this team via the lineup. He was constantly juggling it and making ridiculous declarations and decisions when, going into the season, Fukudome-Castro-Aramis-Pena-Soto-Soriano-Byrd-2B made obvious sense most of the time. I agree, it's not like any hitter, Soriano included, is going to automatically be rooted to one spot in the lineup, especially if they hit 5-8, but he's got some pretty significant time split between 5-7, moreso than someone who is just being adjusted based on favorable splits or someone like Soto getting time off.

Hmm, well I didn't read it as him being upset about getting moved around all season as much as being upset about having to hit so low in the lineup. Specifically: Either way, it's pretty petty to complain about being moved around from 6th to 7th in the lineup, when there is no significant difference between the 2 spots(he actually hit significantly better in the 7th spot than any other and also got more at bats at 7th than anywhere else, for what it's worth). That's why I think it's more a language barrier issue and he's complaining about being moved around. In the past he's always been vocal about hitting wherever they want him in the order and I can't really see someone making a big deal about hitting 7th instead of 6th.

He didn't go complaining to the media. $100 says he was asked something along the lines of "so what do you think of batting so low in the lineup this year?" Soriano then responds with his limited grasp of english and essentially says "I'll hit where they want me to hit, but I don't like being bounced around the lineup as often as I have been this year." What's wrong with that? It's not like we haven't been griping about Quade's crappy lineup management all season long. I didn't say he went complaining to the media. I said it is selfish to complain to the media about it, whether they were seeking him out or not. It's baseball. Hit the ball no matter where you are! If you are Soriano you are going to take the same approach no matter what slot you are hitting in. He has had the same approach whether he has hit leadoff, third, sixth, or wherever since he has been with the team. I've had enough of the Ramirez and Soriano show. Send them somewhere else. They haven't won and titles or created a winning atmosphere in the clubhouse anyway. Good riddance! Oh my. You're precious.

Is it? Bouncing a player around in the lineup usually isn't a good idea. Few players can thrive/are comfortable in such a situation. Just look at Castro, Soto and Byrd this year. All three players have had similar splits between different lineup spots like Soriano. If anything it just speaks to Quade and co.'s inability to construct a lineup that plays to both his players' abilities and comfort. Soriano saying he doesn't like such an approach to lineup construction isn't a stupid opinion; it's the exact opposite, actually.

I believe his velocity is down this year. I could be wrong though. It has been (though it was back up today).

He didn't go complaining to the media. $100 says he was asked something along the lines of "so what do you think of batting so low in the lineup this year?" Soriano then responds with his limited grasp of english and essentially says "I'll hit where they want me to hit, but I don't like being bounced around the lineup as often as I have been this year." What's wrong with that? It's not like we haven't been griping about Quade's crappy lineup management all season long.

What? Is it not? Is there a position in the batting order in which one does NOT want to get on base, unless you're intentionally sacrificing to move runners? But it's not his "job." It's one aspect of his "job." If there's any singular thing he's being counted on as a hitter at this point it's hitting for power, not getting on base. You're talking about him like he's Campana.

Him saying "The way they treat me this year I don't like it" is ridiculous. He continually said "thats Mikes call" or whatever, but he clearly thinks he should be hitting higher in the order, when he should be happy he's even in the lineup at all at this point. Sounds more like he didn't like bouncing between different spots in the lineup so often. The guy has repeatedly said he'll hit wherever they want to hit him, but this was the first year that he's been shifted so (relatively dramatically) between three different spots. The guy didn't complain getting a ton of PA hitting 6th in 2010 and 2009, so I doubt you would have heard this if he had faced similar stability hitting most of the season 7th (and arguably he should have been just left hitting 6th again).

What?

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/4/0/1/63401_v1.jpg

Closer contracts will always be a pet peeve of mine. Imagine if they had the $7 million(!) they'll be paying him next season freed up. Or the $9.8 million (!!!) he's getting in 2013.

You're kidding, right? He's basically going out of his way as much as possible in the article to say it's their call and he'll do as he's told. Them's the breaks when someone doesn't speak english all that well.

Man, I wish that $20 million was still available.

That was amazingly stupid.

Just horrendous game management.

Jesus Christ, just pound him with [expletive] fastballs. Did you not learn this before, Marmol?

OF COURSE this comes down to [expletive] Theriot.

Cubs crushing dreams today and nobody cares.