According to the Chicago Tribune today, Alfonso Soriano has publicly stated that he would not object to Lou Piniella using him as more of a middle of the order hitter.

Doing so best suits Soriano’s strengths given that he is a power hitter with a poor approach at the plate, which leads to fewer walks and a lower on-base percentage compared to most good leadoff hitters. While on paper it appears to be the best move possible, especially with someone with a higher on-base percentage like Theriot who can hit leadoff, I will do my best to explain why I don’t think this would be the right move as well as how I would construct the Cubs batting order.

Here is a list of 3 OPS listings over a career (OPS is on-base +slugging percentage). One of these is Soriano hitting leadoff, another is Soriano hitting 3rd, and another when Soriano hit 5th in the order:

• .892
• .761
• .824

The .892 is when he hits leadoff and he has over 3,000 ABs hitting leadoff, with 631 ABs hitting 3rd (.761 OPS) and 583 ABs hitting 5th (.824 OPS). He is simply more comfortable and more productive hitting at the top, for whatever reason, than at any other spot in the lineup.

Instead of shifting him down in the order to cater to his strengths, I suggest they cater to his strengths as a leadoff hitter and not chance having him struggle to find his role as a middle of the order hitter. By catering, I am talking about putting some higher on-base guys at the bottom of the order in a similar manner as Tony LaRussa does with the St. Louis Cardinals by hitting the pitcher 8th and having someone with leadoff characteristics hitting 9th (although, Izturis never had those traits for STL last year). To go along with this, I suggest they also adjust the lineup towards fully taking advantage of one of their main objectives of balancing the lineup with left and right handed batters.

This is my ideal lineup based on the current 25 man roster:

Lineup vs. RH’ers:
1 – Soriano-LF
2 – Fontenot-2B
3 – Ramirez-3B
4 – Bradley-RF
5 – Lee-1B
6 – Soto-C
7 – Fukudome-CF
8 – Staring pitcher
9 – Theriot-SS

Lineup vs. LH’ers
1 – Soriano-LF
2 – Johnson-CF
3 – Ramirez-3B
4 – Bradley-RF
5 – Lee-1B
6 – Soto-C
7 – Miles-2B
8 – Starting pitcher
9 – Theriot-SS

These lineups maximize their offensive potential. With that said, these will never be considered by Lou Piniella given that they would involve hitting the pitcher 8th, which is something he is strictly opposed to even considering. These lineups create create solid R/L alternating match-ups, put a high OBP hitter in Theriot in front of Soriano, and shifts more productive hitters like Ramirez and Bradley in more critical spots in the order and in front of less productive hitters like Lee.