Pressure is off, Alfonso... Time to Show Us Your "A" Game

At the start of the 2007 season, all eyes were on Alfonso Soriano. And he responded with a slump, and then an injury. But when the smoke cleared, Soriano had had a good year.


On pure talent alone, no Cub touches Alfonso Soriano. Soriano remains the highest-paid Cub in 2008. He is also the best all-around athlete on the team, without question. He has great power and speed. He has a great arm. Soriano has the physical ability to be as good as any player in baseball. But he has received little adulation from the Cub fandom, nothing compared to Derrek Lee, or Carlos Zambrano.

What was good about Soriano in 2007? Would we have made the playoffs without him? Soriano was on a tear in September; when the Cubs needed to push, he hit more September homers than any Cub ever did. More than Dave Kingman, more than Derrek Lee, more than Ernie Banks, and even more than Sammy Sosa in any one September. Soriano was similarly crushing pitchers before his unfortunate hamstring injury.

Was he worth $13 million to the Cubs this year?
The perception of Cub fans is that Soriano is not all that he can be. ON the other hand, its not like the Yankees got twice as much player from A-Rod for the money. I would say that Soriano’s salary is in line with what a proven bat who is young and healthy can command. Also, his contract is for seven more years; by the time he is in the later years of it and not the player he was when he was signed in 2007 (he’d be 38 years old), salary inflation may well be so high that it’s not a big deal. Maybe 38-year old sluggers will cost $13 million per by the year 2014.
He insists on batting leadoff, though he has a .560 slugging percentage.
True, but any time you can get someone that good you are better off. He is still fast, capable of scoring from second on any hit that reaches the outfield, and even stealing a base or two.

He has great speed and a great arm, but is not a good defensive player, even in the outfield.
It’s true that some of his outfield assists were because his arm was not respected as much as it should be. It’s also true that left field is not an important defensive position. Maybe you’d rather see Matt Murton out there, or George Bell. Soriano does play better defense than many comparable offensive threats.
He had only 70 RBIs with his 33 homers, because he insisted on batting leadoff. He walked only 31 times but struck out 130.
It’s not abot how often you walk; it’s also about how often you get on base. Soriano’s overall OBP was .337; not worthy of a leadoff man but not a disaster either. A .270 hitter who walked a lot more would be in a similar statistical level.
Another plus with Soriano is his health. Yes, he did have some hamstring woes last season. But he has never torn an ACL, or hurt his back, or anything else that would permanently cut down his power and speed.