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On Wednesday, Sweet Lou shook up his batting order, dropping last year's leadoff man Alfonso Soriano to the 2 hole and replacing him with Ryan Theriot at the top of the order. Part of the reasoning behind the move is that Piniella wants to get Soriano accustomed to not leading off, in hopes that management will pull off a blockbuster trade that would land leadoff specialist Brian Roberts from Baltimore in exchange for Ronny Cedeno, Sean Gallagher, Donnie Veal, and RHP prospect Jose Ceda (and potentially Jason Marquis and Baltimore OF Jay Payton). That sounds like a pretty lopsided deal, considering that the Cubs are offering three of their top pitching prospects, but it might represent one of the last pieces of the puzzle – and it would give Piniella a reason to stop his incessant tinkering with the lineup.
Compare Theriot's meager .266 BA and .326 OBP last year with Roberts's .290 and .377 respectively, and the logic of the trade becomes clear. And Roberts's numbers more resemble those of a leadoff man (especially that OBP) than Soriano's, who hit 33 home runs last year, many of which were solo shots because he was batting leadoff. Additionally, the Cubs' $136 million man is still recovering from a torn quadriceps, and Lou doesn’t want to push him too hard. The switch also allows Piniella to try Kosuke Fukudome in the 5-spot, in hopes that he can be more productive there.
Down on the South Side, the Sox are dealing with similar lineup uncertainties. The most obvious candidate for the top of the order, speedster Jerry Owens, is experiencing groin problems (although nothing approaching the trauma of Felix Pie's recent twisted testicle), prompting Ozzie Guillen to weigh his options. Earlier in the week, Guillen suggested that he might put newly acquired outfielder Nick Swisher in the leadoff spot. "I lean toward Swish,'' Guillen told the Sun-Times. ''I know Nick is not a typical leadoff hitter, but the only thing I need from a leadoff hitter is to get on base and score some runs."
Getting Owens healthy is a must if the Sox have any hopes of returning to "Ozzie-ball," especially considering the lack of mobility and station-to-station base-running they have in the middle of the order with the Thome-Konerko-Dye triumvirate.
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As much as I like the idea of getting Roberts, I don't want to give up Veal and Sean Gallagher. Gallegher has a lot of potential and we need some young pitching in the bullpen, as Wood, Howry and Eyre are not getting any younger.
I rather they take Marquis. But yeah, if Soriano can bat 2, 4 or even 5, we would be far better off with Roberts or even Theriot.
I would let them have Cedeno for a case of beer and an Orioles Cap. Does anyone really want him or do they just throw him in as a last resort. He is horrible.
What about the fact that Roberts is involved with the HGH scandal. How do we know his production will remain at the same level after coming off it.
The person I really don't want to give up is Ceda...that guy has really good stuff but he's very overweight. He's also probably at least 2 years from being on the 40-man. I could take or leave Cedeno and Gallagher but I also hate to give up Veal. On the other hand, you have to spend money to make money so to speak. The Cubs are a large market franchise and they should behave like one. That includes occasionally giving up a few what if's for one already is.
I'm sure I'll be called naive but we don't know for sure that Brian Roberts continuously did HGH. He could have just tried it once. Assuming he's still on it, or was on it for years and years just makes the steroid thing even more of a witch hunt.
I'm sure I'll be called naive but we don't know for sure that Brian Roberts continuously did HGH. He could have just tried it once.
I won't say you're naive, but this "I tried it once" excuse is completely retarded. That would make sense if we were talking about trying cocaine, but HGH?
it's not retarded if the person realizes they don't want to be taking performance enhancing drugs. i realize you can't really take HGH once and feel different physically...it's not like Popeye downing a can of spinach. If you do some coke I imagine you feel it right away. But it's not impossible to think that Roberts took HGH once and felt wrong, ethically or whatever. again I know that's somewhat naive but the guy didn't suddenly become Mark McGwire from one season to the next.