Johnson’s lifetime OBP is .345. Theriot’s is .348. So it’s not like either one of them is a great leadoff hitter. The only true leadoff hitter we have is Fukudome, but Lou is insisting on using his one left-handed threat to break up all the righties in the middle of the order.

Soriano’s numbers are consistently better throughout his career in the leadoff spot than any other position.

Bottom line is that way too many pixels have died in service to this issue.

Sori hits lead off cause he is a selfish player. No rehab stint in the minors? Anyone else think there’s a need for him to work out the kinks (pre-injury stuff as well!). I know the Cubs signed him as a leadoff threat, but I for one am not interested in seeing him hack away anytime soon in the one hole!

Assume that we don’t make any trades, and that Murton will get a one-way ticket to Des Moines on Thursday.

Let’s look at the lineup possibilities for Sori…
1. OK, most of his HRs are solo, but having Sori and his .900 OPS at the top makes pitchers work immediately. (See Young, Chris and Sizemore, Grady)
2. Probably the worst spot for Sori, since he would be of no help protecting a leadoff hitter trying to steal. He looked awful there at the start of the season. Why make him change his game - one that can produce a quick 360 feet - to accomodate someone trying to advance 90 feet? (This is especially true since Lou wants low-OBP speedsters leading off rather than higher-OBP guys. These guys have to try to steal to justify their place in the lineup.)
3. Normally, this is where your best hitter (combining OBP, BA, and SLG) hits. The Cubs have an ideal candidate in Lee; why move him for a guy with subpar OBP?
4. This would be the second-best place for him. He would get fastballs in front of Ramy and might hit with runners on-base. The problem is that Dome is then batting 6th (losing PAs), or batting 1st or 2nd and leaving an all-RHB middle of the order.
5. Not so good. He would see a lot of junk as teams are not scared about Dome’s power (or certainly DeRo’s). It would also present the same problems with Dome as #4.
6. Lots of breaking pitches - even DeRo gets a bunch at #6 - and easy to pitch around. Besides, I’d rather have a .900 OPS getting more PAs than Theriot.
7. Wasted in this spot.
8. See #7.

Given the current starting 8, leadoff ends up being the best spot for him. I’m not saying that he is an ideal leadoff man, only that he is the best fit given the current situation.

Was probably obvious from the initial post, but I don’t think you put him in the #1 spot.

Johnson and Theriot’s OBPs may not be ideal, but they’re better than Soriano’s career .326

To me he bats 4-5. I hesitate to move Ramirez from cleanup, but I trust Ramirez to be more patient in the 5 spot than the Fonze.

Fukudome moves to the 2 spot or 6. I’m not worried about Fukudome in the 6 spot, DRMH. He’ll get his. And, the better choice for 6 would probably be Soto, but I know he’s a rookie.

I understand that Soriano was signed to be the lead-off guy, but things change. We signed him for 8 years, we knew things would change. Maybe things have already changed, and maybe not.

And, just so everybody knows, I want to bat Soriano down in the lineup as a compliment. His bat is just to big to lead-off. Get some guys on in front of him.

Reed Johnson has been dreadful in the leadoff role this year. Look it up. People think he’s this amazing leadoff hitter—but he’s not. Not at all actually. His line is .222/.341/.250/.591 .

Alfonso Soriano is a guess hitting hack that also happens to be overly sensitive. Apparently Sweet Lou needs to coddle the $136 million man, just like Cubbie managers of the past coddled Sam-ME “Corky” Steroid.

Nobody loves Piniella more than I do. But his accomodation of Soriano is a joke.