Matthew Pouilot Two Lovers divx The Comebacks video
from Rotoworld tickled my interest today regarding Geovany Soto. I haven’t been impressed with Geo’s performance this year but I’ve attributed it to a bad shoulder. If that’s the case why are we burning a batter in two-thirds of our games? He hasn’t been impressive in the batter’s box and hasn’t set the world on fire throwing runners out either. I like the way the guy calls the game but could we be faced with another Jerome Walton?
Methinks not, I think he’s hurt. Why don’t we get his health issues addressed and use Fox as a backup catcher? We all know that Jake will not be the Gold Glove winner at catcher but are we really better off with a guy that can’t hit and can’t throw? I would contend that it’s not beneficial to Geo either. If he *is* hurt he might damage that shoulder to where it is career-threatening. Let’s get open about what’s happening here and hope the Cubs don’t make the wrong decision.The Frisco Kid ipod
I’m not a trainer, so I could not pretend to say whether or not he’s hurt. To me, and again, I am a layman, he looks fat. The problem with Fox is that catcher is too important a position defensively to trust Fox, who is inexperienced at best, and plain crappy at worst. A bad defensive catcher would cost you 5X the number of wins a good offensive catcher would get you. I have no stat to prove it, but I believe it to be true.
Again, I bring solutions. I think the Cubs should 50/50 the playing time between Soto and 3-digit until one of them steps up and takes the job.
I am no shoulder doctor either, but Geo looks fat to me too. If you are 40lbs over weight and hit .290 with 30 jacks you are stout, if you hit .200 with 1 jack you are fat.
I could defintely believe his shoulder is bothering him and or the fact that he didn’t have a real spring training, he played in the ill timed tournament of the world, he never really got comfortable and got his timing down. Then he started presing and it snow balls from dere. It could also be a combination of both no ST and an injury.
I like the 50/50 solution, it would take some pressure off and give him time to get relaxed and locked in.
I may be reaching here, but does anyone think that it could have something to do with the release of Henry Blanco? All we heard last year was how Blanco was his mentor and had taken him under his wing. They sat together every inning and discussed the game at hand.
I think that the loss of his friend and mentor might be bigger than they realized when they decided it was critical, in every way humanly possible and without regard to chemistry, to get more left handed.
Just sayin’
I think Sherm’s right on. Brenley said as much a few weeks ago.
Can we seriously drop the Fox stuff? He can’t play defense, everyone says so. There is no position I’d put him at.
The Jerome Walton comparisons don’t really hold any water.
Walton simply wasn’t very good, even in his rookie year. He put up a line like this in that ROY season: .293/.335/.385/.721. He was helped by a .337 BABIP, which ended up being 27 points higher than his career BABIP.
Soto, on the other hand, put up a very impressive .285/.364/.504/.868, though still helped by a .332 BABIP.
Soto, in 2008, was significantly better than Walton was. Walton was a singles hitter without patience that got lucky in his rookie year, and didn’t have the same luck after that. Soto was a rookie that had lost weight and developed late, but appeared to really learn how to hit while also being fairly patient.
I too agree that Soto may be hurt, or at least hurting. I also agree that he is overweight, and I also agree that the loss of Blanco may be hurting him. But I still expect him to rebound and be a significant contributor to this team. I hope.
Good point Sherm. Losing Blanco as a mentor could be a big part of it or actually a combination thereof. As I said, you get off to a bad start and it snow balls from dere. Maybe with Blanco around he gives Soto advise on an adjustment and it doesn’t snowball.
I took the Jermoe Walton comment to mean a 1 year wonder, a player who had a solid rookie year that quickly fizzled out. (Was Walton a rookie of the year? I would recall a candidate for it for sure.) A player who gave the Cubs reason to be optimistic about his future after his first year, like Soto’s first year. I didn’t take it to mean that there stats were similar. BABIP didn’t really even come to mind, still doesn’t.
I wasn’t just replying to Mark’s comment. The Walton comparisons have been floating around for awhile. And yes, Walton did win the ROY in 1989. Amazingly he even received MVP votes.
My point is/was that Walton was never any good, so the comparison doesn’t really hold up.
I was not implying that Mark (or anyone else, for that matter) thought that the two players had similar stats. I was just pointing out that Walton wasn’t really that good, and Soto was good. If anyone would have really looked at Walton’s numbers, they would have seen little reason to be optimistic. Bad walk numbers, zero power, high BABIP, etc. The same can’t be said about Soto.
For whatever reason, the stars were all aligned perfectly last year, and who thought they were going to just pick up where they left off anyway?
well, since they left off by getting swept by the Dodgers, I was hoping for them to pick up someplace much better. This team looks as if it might not even make the playoffs, much less get swept in the first round.
I think you have to let him play himself out of it.
I too am not an orthopod, but we are getting closer. I also think Geo is fat. I haven’t seen anything that makes me think he’s hurt, but then we probably wouldn’t with a shoulder. Bagwell had an essentially useless one, but could still swing a bat, It was obvious to us because all the talking heads kept pointing it out. Regardless, he needs less playing time until things get sorted out.
If I remember right, the year Walton was ROY, we also had the guy who finished 2nd in the balloting, Smith I think, He also did not pan out in thew long run. Sometimes that’s all you’ve got.
Among the many advantages of living in the Pacific Time Zone, is that sports items come up at reasonable hours. Driving in this AM Mark Cuban was on ESPN Radio talking to a jar headed college football gut about a lot of things. He spent some time on his Cubs bid. He said he backed out as the financing required him to borrow a lot of dough in short term loans, and that they would likely not be able to generate enough to pay them off before maturity. That would force him to sell or refinance. He said it did not make business sense in the current economy. That may be the same issue with the Ricketts, deal, and does not bode well for spending post sale. Just a little tinkle on your wheaties.
Jerome Walton, and Dwight Smith. Two guys that disappeared.
Just for some other discussion, has anyone not noticed the Cards are 1-7 in their last eight? This division is still ripe for the picking, because it’s early, and Milwaukee and St. Louis don’t have the pitching. If the Cubs could only get the bullpen figured out……
Dwight Smith didn’t really disappear. He actually turned into one of the better pinch hitters of the early 90′s. He never (even in ’89) played full time, and never saw more than 381 plate appearance in a season.
He put up a career line of .288/.352/.463, which, without doing the research, I would guess would look pretty impressive in relation to other career bench players.
Man… back then I really liked Walton and Smith…
I am an expert on the subject of “fat” and I would agree that Soto is out of shape. But that doesn’t completely explain why runners are making him look like Mike Piazza back there. Walton had one good year and got RoY and that was it – hence the comparison.
If I’m remembering correctly, Blanco not only helped Soto by discussing the game and giving him strategic help, etc. but also didn’t he either encourage Soto to lose the weight and maybe even help him by training with him? I can’t remember for sure but it rings a bell.
Blanco introduced Soto to the Home Town Buffet, not the gym. True story.
I heard Soto ate Blanco. How many people did Jerome Walton ever eat?