Manny to replace Soriano?

you get more years out of Soriano, but why not move him to RF or Manny to RF. Didn’t Manny play RF for the Indians?

Manny will be 37 in May and has clearly been struggling in the outfield in recent years. Don’t be surprised to see Boras market him almost exclusively to AL teams where his value will be higher as a designated hitter. The Red Sox were unable to play him as a DH because of Davis Ortiz. Manny is listed as 6’-0 and 200 lbs….no shot, (I bet 225-240 )
      Soriano will be 33 in January, 4 years younger than Manny. While Soriano is no shining gem in the outfield, he is by far superior to Manny and can play at second if necessary. In conjunction, Soriano is much better baserunner when healthy. Despite a couple of injuries during his tenure as a Cub, in terms of health, I feel that he is still a better overall commodity than Manny. Certainly the broken hand he suffered against the Braves this year can not be held against him as a health issue. The quad injury probably wouldn’t have been an issue this season if he hadn’t been rushed back to duty in ‘06 when it occurred.
     Conversely, if Manny got serious about playting in Chicago, and was willing to sign for 1-2 years, why couldn’t he play right where he played in Cleveland. Fukudome’s performance certainly deteriorated as the season progressed. Then again, the Cubs would have almost no “Small Ball” players in the line up, a liability in the NL where execution is paramount. The idea of the Cubs getting Manny makes nice press in the post season, but methinks the true probability of this actually occuring is low.

Apparently Rogers has run out of things to write about.

And I think the jury’s still out on Fukudome, unlike the Pierre or Schmidt jury.

… when, at last, I’ll have finished my treatise on the 2009 roster.

But the bottom line is, in order to do this you’d have to take on one or more of the Dodgers’ bad contracts — Pierre, Jones or Schmidt.

Stay away. FAR away.

but obviously he has his own issues or he would still be in Boston.I don’t completely understand why so many hate on Soriano. Yes he has his issues in the field. But the Cubs did win more when he was playing.

Is it riskier to move Soriano to second base,and lose any of our starting pitchers? Then perhaps make the play for Manny? I’d hate to lose Dempster and Wood if that were to happen, but could it happen??

1) Because he would be a greater defensive liability there than he is in the outfield. Soriano was originally a shortstop, was moved to second base, and then to the outfield, These moves were not made due to his outstanding fielding abilities.

2) The Cubs are rich at middle infield positions with Fontenot, Theriot, DeRosa, and Cedeno all performing well. I can’t see the Cubs organization platooning Soriano into that mix as he is does not field the positions as well as any of those guys. Infield positions are also much mor physically demanding, a factor which would further deter the Cubs from ever trying such an experiment uunless it were an emergency or temporary strategic decision.

…. I woudl have ripped into it for being ridiculously stupid. It ranks right up there with any number of trade posts that have ever included the phrase “and a package of prospects”.

We don’t need Ramirez, we need the kind of players he had around him in LA.
We aren’t getting rid of Soriano. He was the best of what was available at the time and we are stuck with him as is, where is. There are worse things to have. The challenge is using him in the way that best benefits the Cubs, not in the way that best benefits Soriano.

some teams interested in Jeremy Hermida….nice LH hitting OF who can play RF, not sure if he can play CF….but he is someone I would not mind targeting…lots of upside there.

The Cubs should drain the remainder of Sam Zell’s checkbook to sign Manny. He’s a better pure hitter than Sori, walks more, hits very well during the post-season, plays much worse defense, and can’t steal a base without breaking into the storage room. He’s also 5 years older, and brings not only his own baggage, but Scott Boras as well.

To make room for Manny, the Cubs should trade Sori, who has been very productive when healthy during the regular season for the Cubs. Sori walks less, strikes out more, can hit balls just as far when he connects, can carry a team when he is hot, is known as a hard-worker who keeps himself in excellent condition, and has the reputation of being a great teammate (though not a leader).

In order to trade Sori, the Cubs will have to fork over a sizable bonus to get Sori to waive his NTC (probably at least the $1M that Ramy’s contract specifies) and take on a truly bad contract from the Dodgers — probably Juan Pierre’s.

That means that the Cubs would effectively be trading Sori and a lot of dough for Manny and Pierre. That gives the Cubs a leadoff hitter whose OBP the last four years have been .326, .330, .331, and .327 — worse than Sori — and another RHB to fit in amongst Lee, ARamy, Soto, and DeRo. It weakens the OF defense, forces Dome back to RF, and leaves no room for a LHB power-hitting OF.

And this helps the Cubs how????

But the Cubs have to take the risk of paying huge bucks for a guy who is really getting up there. I’d much rather get 2 great seasons out of Manny and eat the remaining 2 years of his contract than have Soriano. Financially i doubt that the Cubs do this.

I do like the idea that both teams have bad contracts and that some sort of deal could be worked out, but I don’t see the Cubs plunking down the green for Manny, they’ll want to back load it for 10 years and he’s going to get paid upfront.

Seriously, somebody PAYS him for this fantasyland crap? The Dodgers are going to sign Manny to turn around and trade him to the Cubs?!? Put down the hookah Phil. Better still learn how to be a real baseball reporter. Paul Sullivan and you could learn a lot from Dave Van Dyke or Bruce Miles.

is the part where he suggests that Aramis go in the trade as well. That’s just nuts. Yes, Aram’s had issues in the playoffs. But maybe he wouldn’t if his teammates would pick things up a little bit.

He’s the best Cubs third baseman by far, since Santo (sorry, Ron Cey, you were good for a year or two, though it was fun to watch you). There is no way he should be traded.

BCBers. If this had come from one of us, we would have blown it away so badly, the poor fellow would have limped off with his tail between his legs. Rodgers must have cracked open a fresh bottle before he deamed this one up.

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