Soriano first now and always
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:17pm Matt Trowbridge
Had to disagree with the earlier post by Mr. Garcia. Sorry, Tony, you couldn’t be more wrong. If batting Soriano first is a bad idea, the Cubs never should have paid him $136 million. Afterall, he’d hit leadoff basically his entire career. (Moving him down in the order would be about as smart as our co-blogger Wally Haas batting his own son last most of the year when Kevin Haas almost broke the Newshounds record for highest batting average in a season for our slowpitch softball team.) …  The truth is Soriano is the no-brainer choice to hit leadoff. Soriano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are far-and-away Chicago’s most expensive and most accomplished hitters. Theriot ranked 14th on the team in OPS last year, 12th if you count only players with at least 140 at bats. That’s below Jason Kendall. Every spot you move down in the batting order costs you 18 to 20 at-bats over a season. Do you really want Ryan Theriot batting 70 more times than Alfonso Soriano (if Soriano is fifth and Theriot first)? No way. Soriano, Fukudome, Lee, Ramirez — those first four should be set in stone. — Matt Trowbridge
1 Comment Add your own
1. Matt Torman | April 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Trowbridge makes a valid point about the extra at-bats. I, too, was skeptical when Soriano was named to the leadoff spot last year. But having that kind of power at the top of the lineup is becoming a luxury that most clubs would snatch up in a second. The point of a leadoff hitter is to get on base, and that kind of pop in his bat forces pitchers to work the corners and be more careful.
You start to feel like the Fons can do more deeper in the lineup (it’s just frustrating when a player of his caliber hits 33 home runs but only drives in 70 runs), but he’s gotta be the best bet to lead off. I just hope the Cubs’ hitting coaches emphasize the “work the count” part of the equation.
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