Expect Micah Hoffpauir at Wrigley tomorrow. This will be the short-term fix. Long term? I don’t know. THe team made it thru Soriano’s 1st absence…but will they get lucky a 2nd time…especially going into Toronto and Tampa? I just don’t know.

Kasey

I know the ESPN “gurus” are saying possibly six weeks, but I think we’re going to need more information with this before we all FREAK OUT! I’m thinking it might be a DARN good thing we got that red-headed dude in Iowa! Yes, it’s a big blow, but this team has the ability to maintain. No jumping out of office buildings yet, Cub Fans! Keep the Faith!

Hand injuries are tricky. Recovery might take a while…and just having faith that you won’t reinjure the hand while hitting takes even longer. +I’m just not feeling good about this right now.

Now that he’s out who will bat leadoff? The last time Soriano was out, Lou tried Theriot, Patterson, and Fontenot, and the combined batting average was something right around .200 with an OBP below .300. Whoever gets put into that leadoff hole needs to step up hit well well Soriano is out.

He may play in 6 weeks…but you have to factor in that he will not take a minor league assignment to get his timing back so he will suck for the first couple.

I have faith that they will be just fine…just sucks because he seemed to be turning the corner on his strike zone recoginition and now we will have to go through that flailing out crappy pitches again

I say they bring back Murton. He’s tearing up Iowa with a .311 batting average and 25 runs. His start can be found here.

just game back from broken wrist in about a month-so maybe it wont be so bad, better the hand than the wrist.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2008/06/soriano-out-6-w.html

call up Micah Hoffpauir.

Hoffpaiur is obvious for #1. Is #2 Murton for the RH option or Patterson for the speed?

not because I really think that he is better than Hoffpauir. He just don’t know what you are going to get with Micah. With Murton, you are already getting a proven commodity who you know can hit Major League pitching on a consistent basis. Sure he does not hit for power, but when you have three quality power guys in Lee, Ramirez, and Soto, Decent power with DeRosa and Fukudome…you just need to make sure that the guy who replaces Soriano does not become an automatic out.

Right now I see Theriot most likely leading odd though it is possible that Reed Johnson could get some chances in the leadoff hole. I could see DeRosa getting moved into the 2-hole with Theriot leading off, but we’ll see what Lou has in store.

• leading off

I hate Atlanta! Anyone else feel as miserable as I do? What a series of bullsh$# events; the starter injures himself leaving Wrigley yesterday and some toolbag comes in and drops one of our best players. This angers me. We will be lucky to see Sorianno contribute by September. Thank God this team has depth. They will survive because the Central is not good and Thankfully Pujols is out. I have one thing to say to Hendry: “GET CC!”. Just when you think we can mail this in…

He’d be a good lead-off guy and has very good speed.

Yes, we will miss his bat, but honestly, I am not too concerned with losing Soriano. I think the Cubs have enough depth in the OF with Murton or others. Regardless, there are several guys whose absence would hurt the team more.

I hope they give Murton another long look in LF and make Hoffpauir the DH for the impending interleague games. Whoever hits better in the next few days gets to stay.

in no order, they would Soto, Lee, ARam, Dome, Z, Marmol, Wood, and Demp.

Murton is batting .143 in June with no hits in last 4 games. Look for EPatt and Hoff to get the call. This begs a question: Can Reed play left field? With Edmonds playing better and Reed doing nice lately, I could see Lou using both. Also, expect DRo out in left and Fonty at second more. I know they have the depth it just pisses me off.

My guess is that Soriano won’t be out the full 6 weeks. If not, I say he is back to his old self right after the break.
This also is a great time to make sure his legs get to 100% (His legs were doing a lot better lately anyway).

Like Dan Plesac said: The Cubs have a very deep bench and even though this injury hurts but Cubs will be able to weather the storm.

Bring up Micah Hoffpauir, Eric Patterson [Hot bat] / Matt Murton and send down Hart.

The Cubs will get through this.

Especially
1. On a night where Demp threw a CG
2. That the injury was caused by a HBP
3. That Pujols is down as well, and we can’t even have the heatlh advantage

Just friggin sucks.

Why arent more outraged? Pisses me off that it was a HBP! And from Atlanta too.

At least he’ll get to rest his legs for 6 weeks right? that cant hurt

And borrow whatever crazy healing sleeping chamber he used prior to the Super Bowl a few years ago…. along with whatever pills he was poppin.

keep in mind the positives surrounding this injury.

The Cubs get to perhaps see if Pie/Edmonds/Murton/Hoffpauir are/is the answer.
Other guys are going to step up..and I GUARANTEE YOU they will.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…Sori’s going to come back to us ready and willing to run because his legs will be completely healthy for the first time in over half a year. While we Cubs fans never want to see this…it’s not the end of the world as this team is built to take blows like this and keep on swinging…(literally)

GO CUBS!

soriano on the bench sad because he cant play. breaks my heart

We are stacked at the corner infield positions, stacked in right field, and stacked behind the plate. Good at Second and Decent at Short. We have two potential holes in the lineup…if those holes get smaller by some overachieving…we will be just fine.

Is this the same bone Sandberg broke in 93?

What I’d do is

Move Theriot to leadoff

Give DeRosa a lot of time in left and in the 2nd hole.

Put Cedeno in at SS move Theriot to 2nd.

This could do a couple of things

1. Put our better D player at SS

2. Give a chance to see what Theriot can do in the leadoff slot.

3. See who is better with the bat with both Cedeno and Theriot with extended PT. Whoever is doing best at end of Soriano’s out period is the starting SS from then on.

I think this is the 5th worst everyday player injury on the team after Ramirez, Lee, Fukudome and Soto. Part of it is I think we’d have an easier time finding a left fielder from within or outside than any of the other positions especially 3rd or catcher.

Right now my biggest concern is WE HAVE TO HAVE THERIOT KEEP HITTING!

Show of hands

Who else is really really happy we have Edmonds right now if he continues hitting?

No offense to Soriano but the Pujols injury is a much bigger hit to the Cardinals.

In response to Jair Jurrjens little tumble yesterday evening:

“It’s actually gonna be about 8-10 weeks in my opinion.” Thanks, Eric.

I’m telling you.

Especially during Brewers, Cubs highlights.

Shut up, Eric.

is here. Viewer discretion advised.

Can one of you guys run the numbers minus Soriano’s production, plus … the different options … and give us a sense for how many runs per game we’re going to lose minus Soriano? Or whatever metric makes sense. Thanks.

Bringing up Murton for an extended look might help raise his trade value for when Soriano returns. Of course, he needs to hit then as well. I am just not sold on EPatt yet – it is that whole Corey’s brother connection…

Against LHPs Against RHPs
Johnson CF Fontenot 2B
Theriot SS Theriot SS
Lee 1B Lee 1B
Ramirez 3B Ramirez 3B
Fukudome RF Fukudome RF
Soto C Soto C
DeRosa LF Edmonds CF
Cedeno 2B DeRosa LF

Bench-
Blanco-as needed to spell Geo
Hoffpauir-will be called up for DH help, will stay to help in LF
Murton-will be called up for LF help during interleague
Hart-sent down to minors for extended stay
Gallagher-sent down to minors until 6/29

but there is a LH on base machine power bat that plays LF…...

the 5000 pound elephant in the room… if it isnt discussed its just silly…

no to sending gallagher down

One option would be a platoon with some combination of Hoffpauir/Patterson as the lefty and Murton/DeRosa as the righty. As they’ll now be calling up two position players, this option is worth considering, at the very least.

I can’t find Hoffpauir’s minor-league platoon splits prior to this season and those are too small a sample (62 total ABs, 19 vs LHP) to give any indication of well he hits lefties. From the little I’ve seen of him, he strikes me as a dead pull hitter and thus likely to have problems against left-handed pitching.

Even such a platoon seems attractive on the surface, can Hoffpauir handle left field? He’s a career .890 fielder (!) in the outfield in the minors, although much of that damage was done several years ago. Presumably, he’s gotten better but the rap on him has always been that his only real positions are either first base or DH. Anybody know more?

Another option would be to give Patterson a shot as the lefty half of a platoon, which would add more speed to the lineup and probably not be as terrifying as having to watch Hoffpauir stagger around out there. Patterson’s platoon split has been pretty pronounced this season, with a .295 OBP against lefties and .380 vs righties.

And there’s always Jason Dubois…okay, I’m kidding about that one.

Murton, DeRo, Johnson, even the Hoff. Platoon it out.

But if DeRo does play extended time in left, you HAVE to get Cedeno in there instead of Fontenot.

My disdain for Alfonso Soriano is well documented. That being said it stinks to have him go down with a significant injury. Hand injuries are always tricky and the recovery timetable far from certainty. Just ask Derrek Lee.

This should mean a lot more playing time for Ronny Cedeno as I imagine Mark DeRosa will see loads of playing time in left field.

The Cubs have been riding the crest of good luck. Now a key player goes down with injury for several months. This is what tests the character of good ballclubs.

Suck it up! Put a band-aid on it and get back in the lineup! Guess hack hitter!!

But seriously, we should be fine. Were a scrappy ballclub. It sucks because were on the road for most of the next month….. One game at a time.

sure, they might say 6 weeks, but you can almost guarantee him taking another 2 weeks or more to get his timing back, and at least another full month till he actually looks comfortable swinging the bat. Don’t rush him, and don’t expect a miracle.