How best to handle Soriano's injury?
4 Comments Published by Colin Wyers on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 9:25 PM.
Let's assume for a moment that he's only going to be out a few days. That assumption means no callups. How best to deal with Soriano's injury? (When I say wins, I mean WAR over a full season.)
DeRosa in left, Fontenot at second?
This should come as no surprise to you - DeRosa is less valuable as a left fielder than as a second baseman - by about half a win. Fontenot, meanwhile, is somewhere between 1 to 1.5 wins worse than DeRosa at second.
Ward in left?
Ward is below replacement as a left fielder, given his atrocious defense in the outfield. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I don't like having Ward on the team. He makes the bench seem a lot shorter than it really is.
Johnson in left?
Probably the best option; it's, after all, why teams carry fourth outfielders. That means keeping Pie in the lineup, however, which the team has seem reluctant to do so far this season.
Labels: Alfonso Soriano, Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Felix Pie, Mark DeRosa, Reed Johnson, WAR
Wasn't the reason Murton didn't start the year in Chicago was that they wanted him to play everyday? Are you not considering him being recalled an option? EPatt might be on a similar plane as some of these options as well.
Really enjoy reading btw.
I'm just hopeful it will force Lou's hand to play Pie everyday for a while. If there are no roster moves, then a platoon of Johnson/Ward wouldn't be so bad for a few games, but you are right in that Ward's defense leaves a lot of somethings to be desired. Johnson would be a good defensive replacement for Ward if Lou goes that route, which wouldn't be surprising.
I think it's pretty unlikely that we won't see a callup. The roster, as it is, has a ton of versatile bench guys instead of players that ought to start on a major league club. I think it's a given that if Soriano's out for somewhere around a couple weeks, or more, that Murton will be manning left field for the Chicago Cubs.
I do realize that I'm sidestepping the entire premise presented in this post, but I find it to be a hypothetical that won't apply if it's anything more than a minor injury.
To indulge that scenario, I think what we saw tonight is pretty much what we'd continue to see.
I was certainly wrong.
I don't understand at all how this club is managed.