Alfonso Soriano's Future

Normal 0 0 1 280 1601 13 3 1966 11.1282 0 0 0 It was announced earlier that Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano will undergo season-ending knee surgery to clean up some loose fragments. Soriano had been hitting .241/.303/.423 on the season over 117 games. He hit just 20 home runs (he had 29 in 2008 over 109 games) with 55 RBI and 9 SB. After three consecutive injury-plagued seasons (he played a respectable 135 games in 2007), Soriano's future is certainly of paramount concern. The seven-time All Star had not played less than 145 games in a season before joining the Cubs in 2007. His SB numbers are dramatically down since then: 19, 19, 9 in 2007, 2008, 2009, respectively. He is no longer the dynamic force at the top of the lineup that he was with New York and Texas; Soriano was capable of leading off any game with either a home run or a base hit and a stolen base. His 2002 season validates this: 39 home runs and 41 SB. But since coming to Chicago, Soriano has not been the same player. By no means a bust, he simply has not produced on the level that Chicago had hoped for upon signing him. Obviously he has been injured so that of course is a big reason for his lack of production. But he is also 33 years old. When I wrote an article this summer about Todd Helton's declining ability, I was inundated with many reactions. This one, however, was interesting. It is an SI article, discussing the dropoff in production when hitters reach 33 years old. One of the players mentioned is Soriano. Whether he is too injury-prone at this point in his career, cannot deal with the woes of the Cubs, cannot deal with Lou Piniella, cannot hit as well in the National League as in the American League or the phenomenon aforementioned is the cause, one thing is overly evident: Soriano has stopped producing. He is no longer the player he used to be. And if he does not turn it around next season, I would certainly argue that he will not regain his old form from there on out.