Report: Soriano facing surgery
You could tell in the tone of Lou's voice as he told his radio audience today that he was going to sit Alfonso Soriano and that it was more than a rest. After tonight's 6-2 loss to the Mets, the Chicago Tribune quote Soriano as saying he would have the knee scoped sometime this month.
Even if Soriano has the surgery in the coming week and is capable of coming back in a couple more weeks, there's little point to it. The Cubs might as well shut him down and let him come to spring training 100 percent, or however close to 100 percent Soriano can be these days.
Lou praised Soriano to reporters as a "gamer" earlier in the evening at Citi Field. I can vouch for that. Despite the faults in his game, Soriano wants to play every day and he works hard to get ready. The Cubs are going to need every bit of that desire because Soriano has five more years to run on his eight-year, $136 million contract, a deal that will go down as one of the worst of all time from a team standpoint.
Soriano's absence will give the Cubs a chance to look at Sam Fuld and Jake Fox in left field. I suspect Fuld will see more time in the bigger outfields in road parks.
It was another rough night for shortstop Ryan Theriot, who went 1-for-5 with 2 strikeouts. Theriot, who had a nice .387 OBP last year, saw that figure fall to .337 tonight. He has 82 strikeouts and 35 walks, standing that total on its head, and not in a good way, from last year, when he walked 73 times and struck out 58. Theriot had a tough time making a throw from short, as he looked like he got caught flat-footed. As long as the Cubs are moving people around, they might as well try Andres Blanco at short and move Theriot to second for a few games.
As we mentioned on today's earlier blog, it'll be interesting to see if the Cubs pursue a second baseman, such as Dan Uggla, this off-season and keep Theriot at short. Or we'll see if they look for a shortstop and move Theriot to second.
Guys such as Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Geo Soto deserve as much heat, or more, as some of the other Cubs are getting for their offensive years.
If Blanco has shown anything this season it's that he's the Cubs' best defensive infielder. And rookie Sam Fuld -- who nearly robbed Dan Murphy of his two-run triple in the seventh when he got a glove on a ball hit well over his head in center -- might be the best defensive outfielder they have.
And that side of the ball might not be a bad direction for the Cubs to look as they start thinking about next year. Their fielding (14th) ranks worse in the National League than the hitting (13th), which has gotten all the attention.
''It's a huge asset, just like Sam Fuld,'' Wells said. ''A guy that can run down balls like he can, who cares if he hits .290 or whatever. If he hits .260 or .270 and makes plays like that for the pitchers, that's huge.''
And Blanco?
''He's a big-league shortstop,'' Wells said. ''There's no doubt about that. I'm not a talent evaluator, but if he learns what he's supposed to do at the plate, he can be an every-day big-league shortstop. I've seen guys that are not as good defensively, or just as good, and don't hit a whole lot but play every day at shortstop.''
Bruce,
What do the Cubs expect from this guy and do you see him getting a full shot at 2nd base next year based on his performance this year. I don't know that much about him as a prospect, but he looks very good to me. He takes walks, hits for occasional power, hits the ball to all fields and plays a very solid 2nd base. He is as close to DeRosa as the Cubs could hope for and he is cheap. I would hope if the Cubs chose to upgrade either SS or 2nd base, they might look at replacing Theriot, and letting him and Baker fight for the 2nd base job (which I think Baker would win). Theriot could fill in as needed at both spots.
Bruce, just curious on him. He was sent down to Single A Daytona for disciplinary reasons, and then was bumped up to AAA Iowa who has no shot at the playoffs while his original team this year, AA Tennessee, is up 3 games and probably going to the playoffs.
What did Jay Jackson do? Did he do something against his teammates in AA and was it so negative that the Cubs aren't going to give him a chance to pitch in high pressure playoff games for AA?
Just seems like poor development (not the Cubs!) that Jackson would throw for AAA and his season possibly over rather than going to pitch for the playoffs in AA.
so now Soriano can't see?.........a good eye test takes about an hour.....if playing at 50-60 %, those are his words are all he has to offer, why wait till after the season to check either out?...........he could do both while he's benched/resting........he's no good to the team at 50-60 %.
now they may be interested in Figgins who is 32 in Jan, will need at least a 3 year deal to match (Hendry's) at big bucks and we know Hendry will over pay.......Lou's coming back with the same outfield so Figgins if he comes will play 2nd........
if Soriano gets glasses and an artificial knee, hits 25-30 homers, Bradley has a year as in Texas, Fukudome hits like he did in japan, Soto has another rookie year, A-Ram stays healthy, Lee has 1 more good year left, and Figgins doesn't let the Chicago things get to him, we may have shot........so many IF'S.................Lou thinks offense, no D......
Dr. Phil
Figgins makes sense if they are one player away but are they. They have a DH playing left, a DH playing right and a right fielder playing center. There are many ifs going into next season not to mention the new ownership and how much they allow Hendry to spend. I have to think that the spending spree might be coming to an end and Hendry might have to build a team without throwing good money after bad.
Unload Soriano, move Bradley to LF (he's actually done a pretty nice job defensively in RF, certainly not below average as many seem to tag him), move Fukudome to RF and sign Figgins to man CF. Figgins, Fukudome, Bradley, Ramirez, Lee, Soto, Fontenot/Baker/Hudson?, and Theriot would make for a nice lineup and plenty of RBI opportunites for Rami and Lee.
Or are you suggesting getting rid of him for nothing and paying the full salary?
As I've previously posted, I'd start with the AL teams since they could use Soriano as a DH. He had an off year but the Cubs could play the "injury" card when trying to sell other teams on Soriano. He did post OPS figures of .876, .897, and .911 the last three years. And no, I'm not saying the Cubs should eat Soriano's salary to unload him. I'm thinking roughly half should do it.
Not saying they shouldn't try, but the other GM's aren't stupid (ie the "injury card" isn't a Jedi mind trick).
...if your expectations for him were unrealistic to start. He's slightly underhitting his projections coming into this season, but not more than a few points or so here-and-there.
(Which isn't to say he's had a poor season, especially. Roughly league average on the whole, I'd say.)
wasn't so much that Theriot is terrible and should go, though his OBP has been steadily drifting towards terrible, but that he is lauded in the media while all the blame gets heaped on Bradley, Soriano, Zambrano et al.
The money issue aside, Theriot should get just as much blame as Bradley at least. Since the ASB, the time in which the Cubs went from division contention to out of the race, Theriot has been quite terrible while MB has been quite good. I don't actually blame Theriot. He's a good player and not the reason the Cubs aren't winning, but Bruce's colleagues in the media focus on blame and then seem to arbitrarily pick the players to assign that blame to.
So for those reasons I'm glad to see Bruce point out that Theriot, Fontenot etc. should get just as much heat as some of the other guys. Even if it's in the blog and not the paper ;-)
I just wish the rest of the sportswriters in this town performed actual analysis and balanced coverage the way Bruce does. Hope the Herald springs for those road trips again next year.
yeah, but you can overlook the below average range, and the below average arm, and the unacceptable on base percentage, because he's scrappy....
...is Theriot's OBP "unacceptable"? It's twelve points below average. This is ludicrous. Do you know how well shortstops hit? I mean really.
(And the best defensive metric available, UZR, suggests that Theriot is having an above-average year defensively, and was average last year. I think it's time to start conceeding that his defense is not an issue for this team.)
because his only value to the team is as an on base percentage guy. 12 points below average is significant makes him significantly below average, especially for a player who clearly is not that good defensively. I watch the Cubs almost every day and he doesn't make plays that other shortstops make. Defensive metrics are an inexact science at best.
If he can maintain an on base average at or near his .387 of last year, he is of value to this team. If he can't do better than the .334 of this year, he just needs to be replaced.
Actually, I plan on being in St. Louis and Milwaukee later this month, and hopefully, next year brings better things.
Oh, and I have mentioned Theriot's struggles in the paper. I'm glad you appreciate the balanced coverage. Good to have you as a reader and contributor to the blog.
I'll have a fresh one up later today.
...Is how Theriot's walks to strikeouts have been turned on their head. He has a shot at striking out 100 times this year. He talked in spring training of actually improving his good ratio of last year, when he walked 73 times and struck out 58.
Jim Hendry is the common denominator for the Cubs woes. Bruce gets a pass because he has been critical of the moves - wrote a great article a few months ago on each and every move. He gets in Hendry's face. But everybody else in this town, who writes, who talks or who has an opinion has been praising Hendry except for maybe the last 45 days. I've got news for you. Hendry has been a bad GM for 3+ years. From the days after 2004 when he didn't re-sign Moises, but signed Burnitz instead; the Juan Pierre deal; signing Jacque Jones; bidding against himself for Soriano; trading Garrett Olson for Aaron "fricking" Heilman; this year's train wreck; the list is endless, etc...
The man has no clue how to assess players, or how to put a team together.
Ricketts should blow this thing up on October 5 and build the team around a couple of veterans: Lilly and Ramirez, and the young guys who produced: Harden, Fox, Fuld, Wells, etc... We're stuck with Soriano's money - either play him at 2B or cut him. Cut Miles. Trade Zambrano, Dempster, Lee, Bradley, Fukudome, Soto, Theriot and Fontenot.
Start over.
"Trade Zambrano, Dempster, Lee, Bradley, Fukudome, Soto, Theriot and Fontenot."
Zambrano, Dempster, Lee, Fukudome = untradeable.
Soto = Selling low.
Fontenot -Selling low.
Theriot - Selling low.
Nothing dumber than trading guys at their all time lowest value. Actually trading guys *still in arbitration* at their all time lowest value has got to be THE dumbest thing a GM could do. Why? What is Soto going to get you in return after this terrible season? And who do you get to replace him? Koyie Hill? You'd rather play Hill or someone else instead of taking the chance that Soto's rookie year will come back?
Mine is dumb, right? Didn't see any ideas up there either.
would be to NOT do any of what you're suggesting and instead bring back essentially the same team. A team that has had devastating injuries to key players and had several players drastically underperform. The Cubs did manage to learn a few things about some players who weren't able to contribute much when given the opportunity (Fontenot, Miles, Hoffpauir) and a few players who may be able to add to the bench next year (Fox, Fuld, Blanco).
So the idea would be to try to improve at 2B or SS (moving Theriot to 2B) or go with a Baker/Fontenot platoon at 2B, and look at some bullpen improvements as well. Other than the Mets (and they've had such bad luck you'd think THEY were the 'cursed' team) no other team has dealt with the injuries that the Cubs have. This team with all of the issues it had will still likely finish in 2nd place well above .500. A few minor roster tweaks and better health next year should be all that's needed.
Weapon X pretty much summed it up. I'm not confident that's "all that's needed" but with the payroll at $120 million for the 2010 season between only 9 players, no one knows how much tweaking can actually be done.
i agree to a point.......not much Hendry can spend or allowed to spend......i believe they with 1-2 changes from within could be better......problem i see is Lou.....he won't make these changes.......he proved that again this year.
1 of the 3 OF'er's has to sit, released, or traded. As a trio they are one of the worse defensive OF's in baseball, as a team they are 1 of the worse in baseball. You need a good, speed, defensive, base stealing, leadoff type CF'er, can Soriano make it back? If he comes back with power great, if not do the Cubs have a back up plan for that?
if you had a stud at 2nd you could live with Theriot at SS or a better SS and moving T to 2nd.........Castro
I'm with Boozer in thinking Soto will come back......of what i read it seems Castro can hit w/power, run, and his glove is the only thing cubs want him to improve on......hell with this team at 19 he can only improve on that.....besides how can the cubs worry about his D when half this experienced team can't field.......
early in the year some one said Soriano has the potential to carry this team when he's hot.......i say roll the dice with Castro and his potential.....not everyone is Pie or Patterson, if so why have a farm system?
and that's the rest of the story
Not Uggla, please. He hits a few homers, but he's a strikeout machine with limited range in the field. The Cubs need to find a new keystone combo (moving Theriot to second or replacing him altogether) but they need on-base, speedy players. They have plenty of guys to bat sixth or seventh in the order, the Cubs now need someone to bat first and second, setting the table for Lee, Ramirez, Bradley and Soriano. (Let's face it, with their contracts, they're not going anywhere.)
I don't think it would kill the team in getting Uggla, but I would hope there's a better all-round player available and preferably at SS with Theriot moving back to 2B.
I'm not sure about his defense, but if he's able to handle SS in the big leagues, Brandon Wood would be my first target. LAA just doesn't seem to want to play him. If he's unable to handle SS, then he's basically Dan Uggla so may as well get the guy whose done it in the bigs.
I wonder if you could trade pitching to the Angels for Brandon Wood. They are potentially losing John Lackey this year and Escobar and Santana seem like they are hardly ever healthy for a full season, and neither have been effective this year. They just traded for Scott Kazmir, but could definitely use another starting pitcher.
Wood, Yunel Escobar, Figgins, Lopez, Scutaro, and even Hanley Ramirez all could be possibilities, and who knows who else.
I almost wonder if you would not be better keeping Baker at 2nd base, and make Theriot the super-sub guy, playing 2b, SS and staying fresh and strong. Baker has a better batting average, on base percentage, and a better slugging percentage and is just as good defensively as Theriot or better. Reminds me alot of Mark DeRosa actually.
Hanley Ramirez is a guy Hendry should have gone after and over paid not Bradley........problem now is he signed a long term contract with the marlins early this year.............he would've been great, speed, steals, runs well, hit, hit w/power, and he's a SS..............oh well, lol..............
The problem is finding a SS who's available and an upgrade. And 19 yr-old Starlin Castro (who Bruce mentioned recently) has jumped all the way to AA and looks like the real deal, though it appears his glove work needs to catch up with his bat. Theriot has hit .324 this year with a .379 OBP and .855 OPS versus LHP. There is a pattern of his numbers dropping after the All-Star break so he would probably benefit from some more off days. I'm thinking that resting him a bit more (vs RHP) and playing Blanco at SS (ideally when the Cubs have a ground ball pitcher on the mound that day) would be the way to go until Castro is ready for prime time. The Cubs don't really have a SP who would be classified as a Ground ball pitcher, but Lilly and Harden are definitely fly ball pitchers while Dempster, Zambrano and Wells are pretty close to even on the GB/FB ratio. And who knows how the SP rotation will look in 2010. Anyways, even if Theriot is below average defensively, he's still fairly young and he's inexpensive. If Castro doesn't progress further in 2010, they could trade for or draft a top SS in a year or so.
to start thinking about Castro. Optimistically you can say he might be ready for a September call up next year, but you can not go into 2010 with him as an option for SS without a full season above A ball.
led the AL in errors last 2 years and was leading this year......i'd go with Castro if he's that far advanced.......
The shortstop wouldn't necessarily have to be an upgrade over Theriot, except maybe defensively. He'd have to be an upgrade over Fontenot/Baker at 2B since Theriot would slide over there. I agree that as long as Theriot is relatively cheap the Cubs should keep him.
I also see your point about Castro but, as everyone is aware of, the Cubs have a lot of players locked in and getting older. If the team can be improved for next year in the middle infield, they have to take that shot and not worry about Castro. Otherwise the window could be closed by the time Castro's ready to come up in a couple of years. And there's never any guarantee with prospects anyway (another lesson we've all learned in Chicago). If the team can improve at middle infield they need to do it and worry about finding a spot for Castro if and when he's ready to come up.
i was hoping they'd bring up Castro this month for a look see........it would have been good for him and Cubs........he is on a fast tract, send him to winter ball, bring to spring training and see what he's got........Lou wants results yesterday, veterans, etc........first time he goes 0-4 he's in the minors......
To much dissension on this team against Pinella from bradley,marmol,zambrano,soriano on and on.
What to do is get rid of pinhead pinella,hendry and the pitching coach and bring in larussa as general manager,dave duncan as pitching coach and ryne sandberg under tony larussa's guidence as manager.The cubs need to act now because this team will never win under pinhead and the window is closing as larussa is in the last year of his contract.
I just threw up a little my mouth. Good thing I read this before dinner and not after.
Yes, Soriano had a terrible year. So did Fontenot. And Heilman. And the ND wide receiver. Dempster was awful. Kevin Gregg was an arsonist. Marmol may be the most frustrating pitcher in the league to watch this year. Bradley warmed our hearts with his charming personality and 35 RBI's for 10 million bucks.
But Soto is definitely the guy who barfed on his shoes this year and has somehow escaped the wrath of the fans and media for the most part. Last year he looked like a possible MVP candidate and the closest thing to a Johnny Bench that the Cubs have ever had. This year he comes to camp unmotivated and out of shape and at no point is a positive factor for this team. His saving grace was getting injured and missing most of the season. Otherwise he'd rightfully be getting the same treatment as Bradley and Soriano have gotten from everyone.
Next year will be a make or break year for him. Either way the Cubs better keep a closer watch over what this guy is doing in the offseason. He obviously can't be trusted to keep himself in shape.
is Soto. Fangraphs had a good article on him:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/geovany-sotos-sophomore-jinx/
Better walk rate than last year, better K rate than last year, swings at less pitches out of the zone, making more contact on pitches in the zone...
BABIP last year: 337
BABIP this year: 246
All this equals bad luck. Only thing to really worry about with Soto is his power, but maybe that's shoulder related?
He probably won't be as good as he was as a rookie, but I doubt he has another year like this any time soon.
Soto is the least of Hendry's problems.............
I like Jake Fox but the Cubs should deal him to the AL where he could DH. Blanco has a great glove but can't hit, he also could be better in the AL. I would love to see new ownership approach a number of the current group of underachievers with long term no trade contracts with a proposal to buy out their no trade in order to send them packing. I would suggest their are no untouchables.
the fair way is to understand the cause of the offensive drop off. If Soto's poor year was a result of his failure to get in shape for the season, he can and should be held accountable. Fontenot, on the other hand does have some statistical anomolies that bear mentioning. In 2008 his BAbip was .353. This year it is almost 100 points lower..262. Translate that into the 2008 year was overstated due to good luck and this year is understated because of bad luck. In truth, Fontenot's outstanding numbers in 2008 probably propelled a solid utility player into an underperforming starter. Yes, he had a disappointing year, but can we fault him equally?
Theriot has missed only 3 games this year. Other than catcher, SS is the most demanding physical position in baseball. And while his numbers have decreased from last year, his sOPS+ has only dropped from 102 in 2008 to 93. And in both years his numbers have dropped appreciably in August. He has gotten worse in his BB/K splits and he's not taking as many pitches, but perhaps his biggest change from last year has been his GO/AO ratio. Last year 2.11 but down to 1.54 now. In totality, has his fall off been of as much significance as that of Soriano or Soto?
Finally, while can all applaud the "gamer" Soriano, how can the Cubs and him look at the impact his performance has had on the team and try to dismiss it as the act of a gamer. Someone has to stand up and apologize for not diagnosing and dealing with the problem before the playoffs were out of reach. If the surgery would have disabled him for only 3 weeks, why wasn't it done earlier in the season? Decisions like that are inexcusable. The fans deserve better.
It did take too long to bench Soriano and schedule him for surgery. But then look how long it took to admit he's not a leadoff hitter and bump him down in the lineup for more than a couple games and leave him there. I still believe the Cubs could move him if they eat about half of his contract.
Okay, so Soriano is not an $18M per season guy, but you think he is a $9M per season guy? Which team would take him?
To me, no he's not a $9M player. But then, the vast majority of MLB players aren't worth as much as they are being paid. Whether it's eating $9M or $10-12M, I think it's a move that Hendry needs to make if he can find a taker. An AL team would make the most sense since Soriano could be a DH. He was with Texas for a couple years, maybe they would take him back. Hendry can play the "change of scenary should help" card and play up the fact that Soriano was playing thru a knee injury. The last three years he did post OPS figures of .876, .897, and .911.
another thing is the MRI showed a little inflammation of what I've read.........I'm a little short of my doctors degree but sounds like rest is what he needs...............shut him down, check back on it in about 2 months..........at that time if he needs surgery for a little cleaning he'd still be ready by spring training..............Soriano is the only one saying he may need surgery.......right now he's damaged goods,
I would like to see Theriot at 2b, and get a more athletic SS and CF. Wondering Bruce your peeps say about Fuld? Is he a fourth OF or could he play CF next year? Trade Bradley (eating about 10mil?) Move Fukudome back to RF. Use Fox as a super sub and get him AB's at RF,LF,3B
Though Uggla's bat would replace what DeRo gave us at 2B.
The Cubs like him as a fourth outfielder-defensive replacement guy. He'd be a better and lower-cost option than, say a Joey Gathright, to whom the Cubs gave $800,000. The Cubs have overpaid for backup help (see Aaron Miles) when they had low-cost options in house.
can't remember who but a Cub person/player seen Fuld play in the 2007 rookie league before his so called competition with Pie for CF.........now i know it was just the rookie league but...........we all know Pie was hendry's guy.......
he said this (Fuld) guy is better than Pie, he knows how to use his legs, speed, hit, etc......when he was sent down the Cubs had no more plans for him.......you mentioned guys Hendry signed while we had Fuld.......if Reed hadn't a got hurt Fuld would never have been here.......but he came up and opened some eyes and now he's their 4th OF'er........and now is the time to play him to see how good he is or not.......
Lou plays Fox in LF one day, than Fuld, and yesterday Scales........so yes he's playing the kids but not finding anything out......his team is already set for 2010......
as for Soriano I'll bet he has a knee cap loose, cartilage, rubs/scrapes and hurts when you run....... rest fixes that........by that i mean no running for a few months, 4-5