Soriano 'doubtful' to return
Lou says Alfonso Soriano will get a second opinion on his ailing left knee and that his return to the Cubs is not likely this season.
“He’s going to go see his own doctor to get a second opinion on this thing,” Lou told us in the dugout this morning. “We’ll probably know something in the next few days. I would categorize it as doubtful that he’d return. Doubtful. I would think that if he as the procedure done before the end of the year it would be just to clean it out a little bit.”
The "procedure" is arthroscopic surgery, which Soriano will have sooner or later.
Lineup
Fukudome, CF
Bradley, RF
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Hoffpauir, LF
Baker, 2B
Soto, C
Theriot, SS
Harden, P
If you haven’t already, check out today’s column on Baker, Bradley and the bullpen:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=320446
With Theriot’s OBP down at .337, a full 50 percentage points below last year, the Cubs might as well go with Fukudome-Bradley as their 1-2 hitters, just to see what they’ve got. Lou says he likes Fukudome near the top of the order but not necessarily as his leadoff man next year.
“It depends on what the club does over the winter,” Lou said. “We’ll see. I like him at the top part of our lineup. I don’t know about specifically the leadoff spot. The way we’re put together here, he and Theriot basically are our best options. Depending on what happens over the winter, we would stay that way. But if we got somebody who could really steal bases, that was capable of stealing 30-40 bases, then that would change, obviously.”
Asked if Soriano would ever return to leadoff, Lou said no.
“No, that’s over with,” he said. “That’s over with. No, we’re not going to do that.”
You have to wonder what the theme of this year’s off-season will be. The Cubs wanted to get “more left-handed” last year. If this year’s theme is to get faster, they better make sure whoever that fast guy is can get on base. And playing at Wrigley Field, the Cubs better be able to slug because their opponents won't stop hitting home runs. Getting on base and slugging the ball are the two most important characteristics an offense can have. Speed is nice, but it’s a secondary need.
In the minors, Peoria is done. The Chiefs went out two straight in the Class A Midwest League playoffs last night, losing 9-8 to Cedar Rapids. Right fielder Kyler Burke, a candidate for Cubs minor-league player of the year reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk. DJ LeMahieu, this year’s second-round pick, was on base three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk, 2 runs and 2 RBI. Catcher Michael Brenly was 2-for-4.
Class AA Tennessee and manager Ryne Sandberg fell 4-2 at Huntsville in Game 1 of the best-of-five Southern League playoffs. Shortstop Starlin Castro, another player of the year candidate, was 1-for-4 with a run. Right fielder Tyler Colvin was 1-for-3 with a homer.
not so sure the angels are letting Figgins go.........
Has any team ever had a less "cost-effective" outfield than the Cubs this year? Look at the offensive and defensive contributions of Sorry-ono, The Spinner and The Whiner, compared to their salary, and it equals a disappointing season. This would be a good project for Stats Inc.
The strange thing is, they could all rebound next year. Or they could finish the job of dismanteling this franchise.
Bruce, great stuff as always. However, if you bring Bradley back do you still have Kosuke in CF?
My off season wishlist is either a SS or 2B and a CF .
Pay about half of Soriano's salary to deal him and sign Figgins. The savings on Soriano would pay for Figgins. The OF would be stronger defensively with Fuk in RF, Figgins in CF, and Bradley in LF, and the Cubs would have a true leadoff hitter. With Figgins, Fukudome, and Bradley at the top of the order, Ramirez, Lee, and Soto would have lots of RBI opportunities. Whoever plays 2B (Baker/Fontenot) could bat 7th and Theriot has proven he can hit out of the 8th spot.
Pay increases to current Cubs (Z, Rami, Demp, Fuk, and Bradley) from 2009 to 2010 would be $10.25M plus small increases to those who are at or close to the minimum major league salary. If Harden is offered arbitration, he would probably make an extra $3M or so. The total increase of all of this would be around $15M. Allowing Greg and Heilman to walk, trading Miles, and losing Cotts would save about $9M and they could fill all those positions inexpensively from within.
If the 5-4 score holds up, it would be nice to see the official scorer use his discretion and give Heilman (2 perfect innings) the win instead of blindly giving it to Stevens (1 IP, 3ER, but the "pitcher" when the Cubs took the lead).
i like hendry but some of his moves...........
Rich Harden nearly had a first inning in which he struck out the side and walked the bases loaded. He managed the latter, but got the final out on a popup. He threw 40 pitches, 21 for strikes.
Per batter
Stubbs: 6 pitches (walk)
Janish: 6 pitches (walk)
Votto: 9 pitches (strikeout)
Phillips: 6 pitches (strikeout)
Rolen: 5 pitches (walk)
Gomes: 8 pitches (popout)
Stubbs stole second base and executed a double steal with Janish.
103 pitches, 59 strikes in 4 innings. Pitch count and strikes by inning:
40/21
12/7
28/15
23/16
Can't even qualify for the win.
Both in the column and on the blog. I think Bradley will pull an Alou (assuming he's still here) next year and have a really good year.
Interesting question with regard to the theme in the off-season. My initial reaction thinks it will be more of a lower key, deliberate, team/self evaluation mode. I equate it to when HP bought Compaq. Compaq was more of a "ready, fire, aim!!" company, whereas HP was more "ready, ready, aim...aim...fire!" I think in previous years Hendry has been too much Compaq, and will be more HP this off-season.
The ownership situation will have a big effect. It's not out of the question that the Cubs will have another tight winter with money. Even if they don't, Hendry has to spend it more efficiently. There can be no more Aaron Miles-Neifi Perez type deals when you have cheaper options in house. There's no reason to keep Heilman, a 5-plus arb-eligible guy. Those guys see big jumps in salary. As I said awhile back in a column, Hendry needs a baseball man above him to rein in some of his more impulsive instincts.
I agreed completely with your column, but what are the chances that happens? And if it doesn't, has "Spendry" learned his lesson?
He will have some sort of budget to work with. If it's a tight budget, there won't be a lot of room to maneuver. I figure he's got to eat money on Aaron Miles. He did nothing this year, and you've got optoins in house if you decide to keep Scales and/or Blanco, and Darwin Barney played at Iowa this year. One "big" move may be all there is.
agree
I wonder if he truly has learned his lesson, though.
Miles isn't the only contract that he's extended that has made no sense, even at the time:
Neifi Perez (2 years)
Glendon Rusch (2 years)
Jacque Jones (bidding war against KC; brought in to be a "slugger")
Joey Gathright (after Hendry allowed Piniella to run off a cheaper, younger, more talented option in Pie)
Chad Gaudin ($2M tendered contract, released in spring training)
I could go on, but you get what I'm saying. It's almost like an undisciplined hitter getting the green light on a 3-0 pitch - you don't HAVE to swing; you should be selective. I don't think Hendry knows how to be selective with the budget.
after 7 years
Other than dropping a guy or two I suspect it's going to be mostly status quo for 2010. For one thing, it would provide Hendry one more shot at a ring while allowing new ownership to take a breath and let one more year drop off contracts before considering an overhaul. As everyone knows, Fontenot has been a failure as a regular and all they can do with Soto is bring him back and hope he rebounds. Soriano's faults I am sure will be blamed on the bad knee (right or wrong), and Bradley's better offense in the 2nd half will be reason to bring him back. Add to that the fact that they really won't want to take on much more dough probably precludes a Chone Figgins from coming to the Cubs.
The only big changes I see that could happen are in the pen. Marmol is about the only guy who could be considered a slam dunk to return. Maybe Marshall too but as a starter, unless he's traded. The rest of the pen could be brand spanking new (save for Grabow who they'd have to re-sign).
Bruce, you were right in your piece in which you point out that Bradley's numbers are meatier than many fans give him credit for. It's just that they are pretty lighweight when you consider what was expected of him. And really, the Cubs have a logjam of number 2 hitters in the lineup, only one of em can bat 2nd at a time, and there's a lot of money invested in them. Bradley, Theriot, Fukudome and probably Jeff Baker all belong batting 2nd in a good lineup. I guess if you believe it's not important for your leadoff guy to be a base stealing threat, then Fukudome projects as an OK leadoff hitter.
"It's just that they are pretty lighweight when you consider what was expected of him."
He never had more than 77 RBI's in a season and only a couple times hit more than 15 homers; not to mention only played more than 120 games a couple times a season. He's FAR exceeded my expectations as far as counting numbers thanks to him actually playing.
But if anyone expected him to be a run producer or a power hitter, its their own fault for having unrealistic expectations.
But I think those were Hendry's expectations.
That's the type of production Hendry expected, and that's what he sold to the fan base.
Theriot should be the 8 hitter (9th if I had my way!).
Lou likes Chone Figgins doesn't he?
Isn't that pretty much what Piniella said for 2 1/2 years about Soriano NOT leading off?