Alfonso Soriano To Clean Up Or Clean Out
Dale Sveum pictures Alfonso Soriano hitting in the cleanup spot. Really?
Seems hard to believe given the 36-year-old isn’t nearly the hitter he was five years ago when he joined the Cubs.
Even Mike Quade never hit Soriano above the fifth spot last season, instead using him primarily as a sixth & seventh hole hitter, which seems more in line for a guy who batted .244 with an on-base percentage of less than .300.
Of course, Quade had Aramis and Pena. Sveum has, well, Soriano, whose 26 home runs in 2011 tied Aramis for second most on the team and trailed only Carlos Pena’s 28 HR. Soriano’s 88 RBI was also second best, trailing A-Ram’s 93 RBI.
But with Ramirez and Pena having departed the North Side, Alfonso remains the Cubs most experienced power bat, which appears why Sveum will pencil him into the four hole.
