Soriano or Sori-oh no? One Big Bat Does Not a Contender Make
Originally published on The Bleacher Report.
The Chicago Cubs are making headlines this off-season; there is no doubt about that. It started when they signed Lou Pinella to manage the club, and has hit an all time high with the recent signing of Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year $136 million deal.
The Cubs have yet to sign a starting pitcher, they have yet to play a game under Pinella with their newly revamped line-up but already they are being called contenders.
Anyone else think this is just a tad premature?
What the Cubs have successfully accomplished this off-season is convinced everyone in baseball that they don’t want to be losers anymore. Soriano could have a great season, or he could flop, but the Cubs are not afraid to spend the money to get the big names, and this method is what lures other talented players. Toronto did this last winter, then they finished above the Red Sox and have added Frank Thomas this year hoping to prove once again that they want to win. Someone was going to sign Soriano, someone was going to pay big for it, so why not the Cubs?
But if we have learned anything from the 2006 season it is that a potent line-up and a mega-million dollar bat can’t carry an entire team. The Yankees had the “best line-up in baseball” last season, and every single announcer felt compelled to remind viewers of that at nearly every opportunity. Jim Leyland was openly terrified of the kind of offensive damage that the Bronx Bombers were likely to unleash on to his Tigers. And look what happened. All those all-stars, all those big bats, and all those zeros.
Still, even if the Cubs do sign a solid starting pitcher, they will still not have the depth to their starting rotation that has proven the winning ingredient in the last few post-seasons and World Series. Even more alarming is that Soriano was signed to play center field and there is a chance he may not be good there.
So, to get things straight, a team that won 66 games last season, has one outstanding pitcher and a solid line up, signs another star player, to a new position and is now a contender. Sure they would only need to win 21 more games to equal the Cardinals’ total from last season, and so maybe they will come in a bit closer, but rarely does one off-season provide the kind of total turn around that a team like the Cubs needs, and I think this year is no exception.
The Cubs have made things interesting, they have given their division a little more competition and they have assured that they will be better then they were last year. But with so many teams and so few spots in the post-season I think we should let the games begin before we bestow the title of contender on this team.
The Chicago Cubs are making headlines this off-season; there is no doubt about that. It started when they signed Lou Pinella to manage the club, and has hit an all time high with the recent signing of Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year $136 million deal.
The Cubs have yet to sign a starting pitcher, they have yet to play a game under Pinella with their newly revamped line-up but already they are being called contenders.
Anyone else think this is just a tad premature?
What the Cubs have successfully accomplished this off-season is convinced everyone in baseball that they don’t want to be losers anymore. Soriano could have a great season, or he could flop, but the Cubs are not afraid to spend the money to get the big names, and this method is what lures other talented players. Toronto did this last winter, then they finished above the Red Sox and have added Frank Thomas this year hoping to prove once again that they want to win. Someone was going to sign Soriano, someone was going to pay big for it, so why not the Cubs?
But if we have learned anything from the 2006 season it is that a potent line-up and a mega-million dollar bat can’t carry an entire team. The Yankees had the “best line-up in baseball” last season, and every single announcer felt compelled to remind viewers of that at nearly every opportunity. Jim Leyland was openly terrified of the kind of offensive damage that the Bronx Bombers were likely to unleash on to his Tigers. And look what happened. All those all-stars, all those big bats, and all those zeros.
Still, even if the Cubs do sign a solid starting pitcher, they will still not have the depth to their starting rotation that has proven the winning ingredient in the last few post-seasons and World Series. Even more alarming is that Soriano was signed to play center field and there is a chance he may not be good there.
So, to get things straight, a team that won 66 games last season, has one outstanding pitcher and a solid line up, signs another star player, to a new position and is now a contender. Sure they would only need to win 21 more games to equal the Cardinals’ total from last season, and so maybe they will come in a bit closer, but rarely does one off-season provide the kind of total turn around that a team like the Cubs needs, and I think this year is no exception.
The Cubs have made things interesting, they have given their division a little more competition and they have assured that they will be better then they were last year. But with so many teams and so few spots in the post-season I think we should let the games begin before we bestow the title of contender on this team.
