Checking in on Soriano and the Cubs
I've been out of the loop for a few days, literally, so its time to check in on the Chicago National League Ball Club. Aka. Da Cubs.
After the sweep at Pittsburgh, I knew they were dead meat against Cole Hamels and the Phillies. I didn't think they'd lose Friday with Big Z pitching, but what can you do? I'll take the 4-2 road trip.
The real news happened last night when Alfonso Soriano pulled up lame with a calf. It might be a bit early to pass judgement, but I'm going to call it like I see it. The Soriano signing is a bust. Not a major bust, but a bust nonetheless. Yes, he had a decent year at the plate last season, he hit a bunch of bombs, and the Cubs made the playoffs. But he's simply not worth $18 million a year if he's not able to steal bases. With his third leg injury in the last 12 months, I think his days of 40/40 are long gone. The best we can hope for is a .270/.330/.550 over the next three-or-four years and then a steady decline to worthlessness over the last few years of the deal. Not terrible, but not $136 million dollars worth for sure. And, I'm not positive, but did he hurt himself on "the hop"? It sure seemed like it. Talk about frustrating.
I still can't complain about the signing too much, though, because they needed to make a major splash in free agency after the horrible 2006 season. I was spitting fire mad at the club that fall, like most Cubs fans, and the Soriano signing got me excited again. And they ended up in the postseason in 2007 and are the favorites to repeat this year. So I can't complain. I'm just left to worry about what could have been.
Anyways, lets talk about the "now" as opposed to what might happen in 2012. So I'll take this opportunity to criticize the team for their choice in Soriano's replacement. Eric Patterson. Patterson has started off slow in 2008, but he's more or less proven at AAA. In a vacuum, he's not a bad choice to bring up. And he's both left-handed and "versatile," which is the company line for choosing him. But Matt Murton is rotting in Iowa for exactly this situation. Injury to corner outfielder? Bring up Orange Guy. He's proven at the major league level and he's only capable of playing a corner outfield spot. He's not an all-star by any stretch, but he's probably good enough to start for 10 or 12 teams in the majors and that's certainly good enough for the next 15-20 days or so while Soriano heals.
And what was with the lineup tonight? I like Mark DeRosa but he hits like a middle-infielder, not a corner outfielder. By shifting DeRosa to left, they essentially chose to replace Alfonso Soriano with Mike Fontenot. Fontenot's scrappy and useful off the bench, but he's a) no leadoff hitter, and b) no replacement for Soriano. Then to hit him leadoff with Theriot second (and Reed Johnson 8th!) just compounds the problems. Derrek Lee has been crushing the ball but has had very few baserunners to knock in because the team insists upon having its best potential table-setters hitting 5-6-7. (Soriano's slump hasn't helped matters.)
Of course, the Cubs went out and scored 12 tonight with that odd lineup so I'm sure we're going to see it the next five days in a row. (Lou is very Dusty-like when a lineup "works.") I'm fine with it if they keep putting up 12, of course, but I'm not overly optimistic about scoring runs with the Cajun Connection hitting 1-2. No offense to the scrappy LSU guys, of course, because they're fun to watch. But they aren't ideal 1-2 guys, to say the least.
Anyways, the Cubs are now 9-5 and I'm bitching like they're 5-9. I should have a cup of STFU and enjoy the games.