Monday, May 05, 2008

Lou looking for left-handed hitting outfielder??? Soriano SHOULD NOT LEADOFF!

Thanks to Gammons and MLBTR-

Gammons says Cubs manager Lou Piniella would like to add a left-handed hitting right or center fielder to bat fifth. Milton Bradley and Ken Griffey Jr. seem like long shots though. It's odd that the Rangers wouldn't want to move Bradley.

This is a move that I think the Cubs need to make happen to win the division. Bradley and Griffey would be great additions but they will be very expensive. Griffey will not be traded until he hits his 600 homerun, even then he will not likely go to Chicago considering the Reds are in the same division. His price would likely be Hill, Gallagher, Marshall, among others.

Bradley on the other hand could be had but the Rangers are asking a ton for him. Bradley has done well this season hitting .320 with 3 homers and 12 RBI. Not to mention his great .412 OBP. If they were asking for more than Murton for Marlon Byrd, then who knows who they would want for Bradley.

Some other players that the Cubs should look at are Ryan Church, Gary Matthews Jr., JD Drew, and Mark Teahen. Dare I say the name Barry Bonds??? or Jacque Jones???

Either way I think the Cubs need to make this move for a power hitting RF or CF. They can play Fukudome in either CF or RF, move Reed Johnson to the 4th outfielder roll, and send Pie to AAA. This also can open up to putting Fukudome in the 2 hole and one of the guys listed above in the 5 hole.

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I am tired of seeing Soriano leadoff, probably about all of you are. Soriano has a low OBP, low avg., but lots of power. He is a 5th of 6th place hitting ball player. I know Lou is giving him a chance to prove he can hit leadoff and run but my patients is wearing thin. Here are two lineups that I want to see on an everyday basis-

LINEUP #1- My favorite- Lou do this-

1. Johnson CF
2. Theriot SS
3. Lee 1st
4. Aram 3b
5. Fukudome RF
6. Soriano LF
7. Soto C
8. Derosa 2b
9. Pitcher

Lineup#2- This one will work too-

1. Johnson CF
2. Fukudome RF
3. Lee 1st
4. Aram 3b
5. Soriano LF
6. Soto C
7. Derosa 2b
8. Theriot SS
9. Pitcher

The second one is very right handed toward the bottom and the first one is just right having Fukudome in the 5th spot( which he should be unless we get another left handed hitting outfielder). Either way Soriano should not leadoff!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldnt want griffey to injury prone and cost to much all though im a fan of his. and if were callin texas i hope we ask for young altohough not likely at all.

I agree i hate soriano leading off. but i hate how people keep saying he refuses to bat anywhere else. he has siad on a few occasions he is willin to bat where he will help the team the most.

also screw theriot

Nick I Cub Fan said...

Soriano has always been a streak hitter, i would bat him 8th till he gets hot then move him to 5th. Also i would play Cedeno at least till he cooled off. .383 BA leads the team .473 OBP is also team high. And with only 47 AB's he has 16 RBI's, percentage wise thats better than Lee or Soto who have 24 each but over 100 AB's. My biggest concern isn't the hitters it's getting Hill straightened out.

Anonymous said...

if the cubs kept Josh Hamilton instead of giving him away for nothing they wouldn't have had this problem.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Nick. Our offense is fine enough for now. it's our pitching that is in trouble. and unless hill gets straightened out i am going to be really worried. hopefully gallagher can become a suprise of the year but who knows. I am super glad they are skipping marquis' next start

Unknown said...

Congrats on the kid.

I too havent been on here as regularly as usual... but due to a second job I picked up to help keep up my jersey and shoe addiction.

I hate Sori leading off too... and I hate him even more at the moment for his defensive mistakes that cost us two ballgames. I did like how Brenly ripped into him for not taking a minor league rehab assignment before bein activiated. Sammy Sosa reincarnated anyone? But thats another story. His numbers show he has been most productive in the top spot and Lou keeps mentiong the Bobby Bonds situation he was around with the Yanks... so I dont see anything happening.

As a result... the Cubs will just have to insert their "lead off" hitter in the two hole and hope he gets on frequently in front of the likes of Lee and Rammy.

I was a JJ backer throughout his low periods the last two years with the Cubs... but I dont see them pickin him back up. Lou didnt seem to like him much last season either... so I think that takes JJ off the board.

You mentioned Bradley and Byrd. How about Josh Hamilton? He can play CF and mashes. And I think we can get him for a top arm (Hill, Gallagher, Marshall, etc) and Murt seeing how they traded one of their top young arms (Edison Volquez) straight up for Hamilton. But I'm sure the Rangers will want more than that.

Anonymous said...

does anyone have ideas what we can do at 3rd until (if?) Ramirez comes back? DeRosa really has the hot corner blues 0-7 with 4k's in last two games. Jimbo

Unknown said...

Jimbo... actually I was thinkin the other day the same thing. Rammy is back now... but at the time I was wondering about giving Cedeno a shot at 3B while Ram was out. Cause like you said DeRo was useless at the plate and has been struggling a lately.