The Cubs have inked Alfonso Soriano to a hefty eight-year, $136 million deal and most Cub fans I know are pretty gleeful about the whole thing.
The plan is to put Soriano in center and hope for the best. I’m an optimist. I like to think that with the off-season to work on it, he’ll do ok.
Now his bat… we won’t have to worry too much about his bat.
All the reports I’m reading are putting him in the leadoff spot. Maybe I’m off here but I just don’t think a 46-homer guy with his kind of on-base belongs up there.
To his credit, he improved his OBP to .351 in 2006. But in the years before that, it was .304, .332, .338, .324, and 2005’s .309. Yick.
Regardless, I’m thrilled as a Cub fan. With Soriano, Lee and Ramirez, this gives the Cubs three legit power threats.
In other Cub news, the Cubs acquired Neal Cotts from the Sox in a trade. They gave up David Aardsma and minor leaguer Carlos Vazquez. The media touted this as the two Chicago teams trading relievers but the rumors are Cotts is going to give the starting rotation a try. Cotts did very well during his starting pitching gig in AA ball. This trade should work out well for the Cubs.
The knock on Soriano was that he couldn’t draw walks. From 2005 to 2006, he doubled his walk total from 33 to 67 (16 were intentional). I think we’ll see that improve even more. A selective Soriano making pitchers work to him is a scary thought.
The only downside is Soriano is already 31 years old and will be 39 by the end of his contract. For some reason I thought he was younger than that.
That’s my point. The Cubs (or any team for that matter) need someone who can draw walks at the top of the order.
…and not someone who hits 46 homers a season.
I must be the odd one out because every media outlet is placing AS at the top of the Cubs order.
And yeah, until this came around, I didnt realize he was this old. He must have come up late.
just looked it up, his first full season was when he was 25.