Answering the questions that must be answered

Lollygaggers tells us the questions that must be answered and I’m going to provide the answers since they are so simple. If the reasoning behind having Soriano bat lead off isn’t flawed, then wouldn’t hitting Bradley in the lead off spot be superior? First of all, what is the reasoning of Soriano hitting leadoff? We have to know that before we can answer this question and until Lou starts returning my phone calls we have only a guess. One of the reasons, I’m guessing, is that Soriano is a very good hitter. Another reason is that he was signed to be the leadoff hitter. Yet another reason is that he feels most comfortable hitting there. I’m sure there are others, but that’s what I could come up with off the top of my head. What exactly is so flawed about those reasons? Batting Soriano leadoff seems to be quite reasonable based on the above so I’m unsure how Clute has determined it to be flawed. But let’s move on. What about Bradley leading off? That’s the question Clute is getting at here. He’s wondering if the reasons to do so may be flawed so let’s check it out. Bradley would replace a hitter who is most comfortable hitting leadoff. Bradley would be put in a spot where he is expected to come to the plate more often than any other teammate. He would be expected to run the bases exceedingly well and might even have to steal a base as part of a hit and run. So, the reasoning to do so is quite flawed. Is it a bad idea, theoretically speaking? Absolutely not. Milton Bradley is the team’s best hitter and in theory I have no problem whatsoever with the best hitter batting leadoff, but the reasoning to do so when combined with other things we know is flawed. It’s certainly more flawed than hitting Soriano leadoff based on the reasoning to do so. Mostly though, it’s exceptionally odd how much time Cubs fans spend talking about Soriano and the leadoff spot. It’s just very strange. Does anyone still believe D Lee is the best hitter on the team? If he isn’t, why is he still projected in the 3 hole? I don’t know if anyone believes Lee is the best hitter on the team and I’m not sure if anyone has ever believed he was the best hitter on the team. Other than his exceptional MVP-caliber 2005 season, Lee has not been a better hitter than Aramis Ramirez or Alfonso Soriano. Why is he going to bat 3rd? If I were writing out the lineup I wouldn’t do it, but I’m not. Lou likes Lee hitting 3rd and if he doesn’t hit well enough this year he’ll be moved down. The first 2 questions have been about the lineup. This is an area of the team that is worth about 15 runs or so. I can think of a dozen questions that would have more impact on this team than that. We know that spring training stats don’t mean that much but can anyone tell me they think Miles will be anywhere near as effective as Fontenot, and why Theriot doesn’t deserve to hit lead off? There are two questions here and the first one is obvious. I don’t know a single person who thought Miles would be better than Fontenot and there was probably never any competition for the 2nd base job so this question has already been answered by the manager. The second question is yet another lineup question (3rd one out of 4 total). Why does Theriot not deserve to hit leadoff? This is easy: he’s not a very good hitter. Case closed. If Ramirez, the best hitter on the team the past two years is willing to hit in the 5 hole, what beef could any other hitter have hitting there? To the best of my knowledge, no other hitter has an issue with hitting there so I’m not sure I understand the question, but aren’t we always told that egos and team chemistry is super-valuable? Why would someone who likely believes this ask this kind of a question? All players have egos and if a certain player is going to perform better elsewhere or be happier elsewhere, then the club should do it for the players on the team who have the biggest egos (the best players). Furthermore, just because Ramirez may not have a problem with hitting 5th does not mean that no other player should have a problem with it. If we’re to believe in the psychology of this game (I do, but I don’t know how much it impacts the game), it certainly isn’t as simple as saying Player A is willing to do it, so Player B should be fine with it too. By the way, this was in some way another lineup question. What hitter other than Soto, is on the upswing of his career? None. What’s the point? How does that have anything to do with the 2009 Cubs and how is any answer to that question necessary? The answer is either yes or no. Neither way does it change the 2009 Cubs. With the history of how this lineup has performed, is there any justification to bat Fukudome any higher than 8th? Yet another lineup question. Let’s make this clear. You can absolutely optimize your lineup to score the most runs and a team should try to do that while also taking other things into consideration. The maximization of a lineup is not worth much over 15 or 20 runs so why all the questions about it? I believe that all of these lineup questions (especially by the fans) show us how little Cubs fans know about baseball. I imagine this is true with all other fans too. What is the “history of this lineup”? I don’t even know what that means. Lou runs out many different lineups so I don’t have any idea how any one lineup can be around long enough for us to know anything about it other than what we would expect from the individual players. Fukudome has been on the team for one year. There is very little history with any Major League lineup that includes him in it. I really don’t even understand this question. Anybody else? What’s wrong with the following lineup? 1) Theriot 2) Fontenot 3) Bradley/Ramirez 4) Bradley/Ramirez…Soto if Bradley isn’t in the lineup 5) Soriano 6) Soto…Lee if Bradley isn’t in the lineup 7) Lee…Fukudome/Johnson if Bradley isn’t in the lineup 8) Fukudome/Johnson/Gathright Well, the first thing that is wrong with that lineup is Theriot hitting leadoff. I don’t care that much about batting order though it’s something we inevitably waste a great deal of time discussing, but in no lineup should Theriot bat higher than 7th. Lee hitting 7th? I’m sorry, but Lee isn’t the 7th best hitter on this team so why would you hit him that low in the order? He’s not as good as he once was and probably shouldn’t bat 3rd, but all the way down to 7th? Nearly every question that “must” be answered is a lineup question. Again, the batting order might be worth 15 to 20 runs. If these are the pressing issues facing the Cubs one has to consider them favorites to win 110 games.