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Revisiting The Soriano Hurts The Cubs "Debate"
Written by wrigleyville   
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Let's check back in on some goofiness from the first six weeks on how Alfonso Soriano is hurting the Cubs - not necessarily by slumping, but by being selfish and (in one odd case) being "Latin."

It is an article of faith among some that the Cubs are not as good at baseball when Soriano bats leadoff. Some say he should bat fifth or even sixth. Still others say he doesn't even belong in the lineup.

The first is a possibility, the second is more than defensible, the last is the product of the fever swamps.

And then there are those arguments that are just intellectually dishonest, while making a possibly valid point:

The Cubs scored 7.36 runs per game with Soriano out of the lineup. Since his return on May 1, they are scoring 4.5. And even that 4.5 is misleading; their totals are 3, 3, 9, 3, and 3. Throw out the high and the low and you’re stuck at 3 runs per game. The Cubs are 2-13 for the season when scoring 3 runs or less. Wow, it’s a good thing we’re maximizing Soriano’s ability to feel good about himself.

Later in the post was this doozy:

The question to ask is not “where should Soriano bat”. The right question to ask is “should he be playing at all?”

1. This was written after Soriano's fifth game back. As of last night, the Cubs are averaging five-plus runs in the games he has played since he returned. Not only that, he has accounted for 35 percent of those runs (30 percent if you subtract two RBIs for the home runs, as those shouldn't count twice).

2. Um, why would you throw out the high (9) and the low (one of the 3s) in the five games in which he played - but not do the same for the games in which he didn't play (the high, by the way, was a softball-like score of 19)? Curious.

3. If "managing is about winning games" - as the linked post says in its headline - why would you not start the player who leads off when the Cubs win their highest percentage of games? I sure would.

Last year, the Cubs were 70-56 with Soriano leading off and 15-21 with anybody else leading off. This year, the Cubs are 12-7 with Soriano leading off and 11-8 with anybody else batting first.*

That's a two-year total of 82-63 (.566) and 26-29 (.472).

So ... is this about "winning games" or is it some other problem people have with Soriano?

*Corrected from 13-7, as I mistakenly counted the bunny hop game in which he didn't actually bat.

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