Also time for Soriano haters to acknowledge that he is extremely important to this offense. Having a healthy Soriano at the top of the lineup gives us someone who is capable of driving in the 7-8-9 hitters when they get on base.

And where would this offense be without the continued excellence of Ryan Theriot?

Yep. You can never have too many guys who make a consistent habit of getting thrown out at third base.

BlueMike = baseball ignorance.

Cubs in a tailspin and Blue Mike almost being positive

Not to mention I actually agree on a handful of things he says

The dude essentially has as many hits as DLee has and he gets torn a new one every day on this site. We know he lacks power, and a shortstop’s arm. But all he does is hit, I don’t give a fuck if they’re all singles. He’s doing his job. Just think about all the times Lee has hit into a DP w/him on. Is that his fault as well?

I’m so glad “we could afford to lose Soriano”... How’s that working out for us?

Ryan Theriot ba: .325 obp: .398 – people who enjoy stats just don’t like Theriot’s.

The offense has me a little worried right now (the team numbers have been trailing slightly down since June). Batting averages are still solid (for the starters) but most are heading down at a slow pace. Not sure how our offense is rated #1 when we only have 2 starters hitting over .300 and no one in the top 10 in RBIs. I guess it is a total team effort right now.

Keys to this offense are obviously getting Soriano back, getting DLee going and getting something out of Fukudome. If those 3 get hot for a while (and the others stay consistently where they are) we should be fine for the stretch run.

I still say we may need a RF (like a Nady) to spell Fuku last half of the season. Not so sure he isn’t running out of gas right now.

made of barbeque spare ribs, would you eat it then? heck I would! i’d have seconds and polish it off with a nice cold budwiser!

All of us have opinions, some of them extremely strong and vigilant. Some would call these agendas. Others would call them the truth.

I try to keep in mind that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Two people can look at Ryan Theriot and see two different ballplayers – one a “scrappy” hitter for BA and OBP, the other overrated and lacking in defense and baserunning. IMO both would be right.

I only have an issue with those who extrapolate extremes from their opinions – that either “Theriot is the best shortstop in MLB” or “Theriot sucks”. Both would be wrong.

As far as Piniella goes, like it or not he’s committed to Theriot at SS. Just gotta hope that 1) Lou will move him down in the order if he tapers off and 2) Lou will consider inserting a late inning defensive replacement when the Cubs have a lead against the Brewers and Cardinals.

I really want to like Theriot for making as few outs at the plate as he has all year, but the arguments against him are really not refutable. I want to cut him slack on the CS because he was given the automatic green light by Lou at the beginning of the year. But the singles hitting, non-stealing and bad base running really does show up in the results. You’ve got to ask yourself: if Theriot is a top of the order hitter with the highest OBP among all regulars, why has he scored fewer runs than Lee, Fukudome, Ramirez and DeRosa? I mean, DeRosa has been hitting 8th and 7th pretty often, and has 40 less at bats and 30 points less OBP, but even he has scored more runs than Theriot. What’s the point of getting to first base if you can’t get any further?

But I can’t stand this debate and other debates like it (the scrap v stat variety), because at their essence, they are nothing other than an argument over how to enjoy baseball. I believe in the stats, even though I don’t get into them myself beyond the basics, because these are not estimates or projections but actual records of performance. At the same time, I can totally respect baseball fans who have no interest in analyzing data as part of their baseball watching enjoyment—as long as they don’t arbitrarily dismiss their value. Among fans of the same team, I’d like it better if people were able to get past “how” to enjoy the team’s success and simply acknowledge their mutual goals and support. “Sheep” isn’t the worst name to be called, but it’s unfortunate when regular posters from within the group apply it to (seemingly) large sections of their peers. From the other side, “haters’ is a stupid, extreme description to use.

Here’s hoping that Theriot’s limitations are the greatest of the Cubs’ problems for the rest of the year.