Sammy Sofa

I'm thinking SS and 2nd are the prime spots to upgrade offensively in that order if there's anyone out there and the payroll can be upped if needed. I'd say 1B as well only if the Cubs are willing and able to eat a chunk of Lee's contract.

Cubs win 8-2.

Technically they underachieved.

Too bad Marshall's gem was wasted. Hopefully he nets us something good.

This series is going to kill me. So awesome. God bless Noah's miracle speed.

What does this even mean? The "expectations" for Soto right now are generaly somewhere around "please don't be awful." I'm obviously not as avid a reader or poster as you so I'll defer to your assessment of the local public opinion. The vibe that I got all through the offseason and in these first 20 games was that Soto would rebound and be the monster he was last year, even "progressing in his development". To me this implied even better numbers than last year were expected, while I assumed the league would figure him out, he'd adjust, they'd adjust, etc. making it a long and difficult season of learning a great deal for Mr. Soto. I've been otherwise occupied with schoolwork this past week or so. Perhaps I've missed a major shift at NSBB? Perhaps my sporadic and haphazard reading here has led me to not view the full body of work. Again I'll defer to you. You're the expert. Nobody here is claiming to be an exprt on anything. I simply don't recall a large push by a number of posters here thinking that Soto was a lock to repeat his rookie season or surpass it. There was the obvious hyperbole, but that was just that: obvious hyperbole. When it gone down to realistic predictions, most hoped/thought that Soto would produce at the worst average offensive production from the catcher's spot while giving the team excellent defense. So far he's not even sniffed either. From the "Bold Predictions" thread Geovany Soto contributes a nearly identical line to his 2008 season and is only outmatched by Brian McCann as the best catcher in baseball. Soto has a better year than last year Steel cage match, Soto vs. Wieters. The world ends because this much awesomeness can't be in one place at the same time. geovany soto is the third or fourth most productive catcher in the national league. Most garing is that in 6 pages only 4 people mentioned him at all, implying no significant change from last year. I said: severe sophomore slump for Geovanny Soto. As in, he is bottom half of nl catchers in OPS. The only response:thats simply not realistic In the "What if Soto goes on the DL" thread Soto going on the DL would immediately make the Cardinals the best NL Central team. I don't think I'm out of school in saying this community expected great things from Soto this year, with plenty of exceptions, I'm sure. We are all individuals. Two of those comments (the steel cage one and the Cardinals one) are so ridiculous that they're clearly not serious. Besides that there's three comments from the entire site that you found that show people expecting Soto to do better than last year. I know there's more, but even then it's hardly a general consensus. Most people here are more realistic than that.

If that is the case, he should be DL'd untill healthy enough to produce, and one of the guys at Iowa called up - Chris Robinson seems to have had a good start the year there. I definitely agree that Soto's struggle are likely due to his hand/shoulder issues, and I wouldn't be surprised if he could stand to lose 15-20 pounds on top of that. A DL stint wouldn't be unwelcome at this point.

What does this even mean? The "expectations" for Soto right now are generaly somewhere around "please don't be awful." I'm obviously not as avid a reader or poster as you so I'll defer to your assessment of the local public opinion. The vibe that I got all through the offseason and in these first 20 games was that Soto would rebound and be the monster he was last year, even "progressing in his development". To me this implied even better numbers than last year were expected, while I assumed the league would figure him out, he'd adjust, they'd adjust, etc. making it a long and difficult season of learning a great deal for Mr. Soto. I've been otherwise occupied with schoolwork this past week or so. Perhaps I've missed a major shift at NSBB? Perhaps my sporadic and haphazard reading here has led me to not view the full body of work. Again I'll defer to you. You're the expert. Nobody here is claiming to be an exprt on anything. I simply don't recall a large push by a number of posters here thinking that Soto was a lock to repeat his rookie season or surpass it. There was the obvious hyperbole, but that was just that: obvious hyperbole. When it gone down to realistic predictions, most hoped/thought that Soto would produce at the worst average offensive production from the catcher's spot while giving the team excellent defense. So far he's not even sniffed either.

What does this even mean? The "expectations" for Soto right now are generaly somewhere around "please don't be awful." Pretty sure he's talking about the manlove for Soto from last year. Where people would quote Geo 10 times. Fickle fans, very fickle. I can't wait to see these guys after Kosuke goes in a slump. Read the game threads, KF is a monster, once he goes 2-20, he'lll be a bum, and Fox should play RF, with Bradley beeing sccotted over. And yet again, people have reason to be critical or wary of Soto so far this year. This about as slumpy as a slump can get, if it's even that. He's had the weight struggles, the issues with his hand when batting and now the shoulder troubles. Offensively he might as well not even be in the lineup and now also defensively he's playing below adequate levels. Most here clearly did not expect Soto to repeat last year, but this is waaaaaaaay below expectations. It has little to do with being "fickle."

What does this even mean? The "expectations" for Soto right now are generaly somewhere around "please don't be awful."

Wait what? I'm not watching the game, why is Lilly's name being brought up in this thread? Lilly caught a gigantic moth and put it on Perry's hat without Perry noticing and it stayed there through the commercial break.

Holy [expletive], Flash Gordon.

Moth = player of the game.

Nicely done, Lilly. That thing is a monster.

There's no such thing as a "small fries" at Five Guys. It's either large or a regular, and a regular order is still half the bag filled with fries. Prices must have gone up. I could get that same meal for about $6 back in State College I think it varies depending on the location.

I support this in a roundabout way in that I think a DL stint might be good for Soto. He's already had the hsoulder issue, plus it's looked like at times again this year like his hand is aggravating him again on certain swings and it looks like he's put weight back on. If he can play through it, great. If not, it seems like there's a few things that need to be checked out or dealt with.

It is bad in some areas we are seeing. Our bench is pretty bad, our depth is pretty bad, the backend of our bullpen is pretty bad. As optimistic as we're all trying to be, I don't think we will see these trends reverse themselves unless we make changes. Oh, definitely, hence my [expletive] the bed comment since pretty much all of those flaws are the result of Hendry's actions or inactions in the off season. It's worrying because at this time last year we were trying to figure out IF the Cubs had a flaw. I really feel like this team is losing confidence by the game. They really need to snap out of this funk in a hurry. Hopefully in a month we will all be laughing about this period. Tons of teams have had starts like this and it ended up much better. I'm not too worried about something like a "funk" since I think that's something you can get over pretty easily when your 3 main hitters are back in there producing. They're also going to cut down on these errors and misplays we're seeing that are screwing up the pitchers. I'd rather Hendry takes a practical approach to the actual needs of the bench and the bullpen as quickly as possible. Any "funk" will likely take care of itself if he attempts to do that.

Forget Bradley, I'm starting to want Soto on the DL for his own good.

It is bad in some areas we are seeing. Our bench is pretty bad, our depth is pretty bad, the backend of our bullpen is pretty bad. As optimistic as we're all trying to be, I don't think we will see these trends reverse themselves unless we make changes. Oh, definitely, hence my [expletive] the bed comment since pretty much all of those flaws are the result of Hendry's actions or inactions in the off season.

Completely unacceptable. I in no way think this team is this bad but Hendry really [expletive] the bed with this off season.

The Cubs' middle infield is abolutely wretched defensively regardless of who gets the start.

Hendry needs to find someone who can play 3rd ASAP.

There's the sophomore slump and then there's Geo to this point in the 2009 season. A sophomore slumping Soto would be great right about now.

What the hell, man. They're actually driving shots off Haren. Please stop hitting them AT guys.

Hah! That kid rules.