A secondary issue for Soriano, again

MESA, Ariz. – Second was always home for Alfonso Soriano. Only grudgingly did he give it up.

Now, the issue is second again. But this time it’s not about relinquishing his defensive position – which he did two years ago after much grumbling as a Washington National – it’s about sliding down in the Chicago Cubs’ batting order from first to second.

“Every year it’s something,” Soriano said after three hitless at-bats from the two-hole Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals. “But the most important thing is that I love this game, and I’ll do whatever they say.”

In weaker moments Soriano has admitted he’d rather be leading off, and third baseman Aramis Ramirez might have been speaking on his teammate’s behalf when he reminded reporters, “We made the playoffs with him batting leadoff.”

Manager Lou Piniella continues to wrestle with the move, which would entail bumping Ryan Theriot from second to leadoff. This is the same Piniella who greeted the long-term signing of Soriano before the 2007 season by saying, “We are talking about the best leadoff hitter in all of baseball.”

Whether Piniella felt that way by the end of a season in which Soriano belted 33 home runs and batted .299, yet drove in only 70 runs, stole just 19 bases and had a subpar on-base percentage of .337 isn’t clear.

The Soriano-in-the-two-hole experiment has lasted a week. Piniella doesn’t sound like he’s sold, even though it was his idea. Before the game, he said the lineup was “representative of what we’ll look like opening day.” Afterward he backtracked a bit, saying he was referring to the guys at their positions and not necessarily the batting order.

“The lineup? Gosh, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m going to go home and one of these days I’ll start flipping coins. We’re going to look at it a little longer. I’m not married to him batting in any one spot. I’m happy with Alfonso in the one, two or even three-hole. Or the five-hole.”

A reporter joked that the headline would be: “Lou doesn’t think Soriano can bat fourth,” so Piniella said, “He can hit in the four-hole too. I don’t want to say sixth, or I’ll have Soriano in my office.”

Soriano, 32, is hardly a prototypical No. 2 hitter. Then again, he was never a prototypical leadoff hitter, either. He rarely walks, strikes out a ton and regularly hits more than 30 home runs, an attribute that would be enhanced by having the table set for him rather than him doing the setting. And his ability to steal bases appears to have diminished.

Yet productivity is secondary to prudence. The slight tear in Soriano’s right quad – an injury suffered in August – continues to bother him. April in Chicago can be blustery and brutally cold.

“He said he’s 80 to 85 percent healthy, and that has more to do with him batting second than anything,” Piniella said. “There’s that cool wind in Chicago. We need his bat in the lineup and don’t need him running. That’s the rationale.”

For Piniella, protecting the team’s monumental investment will mean handcuffing himself at times and having to grin-and-bear situations such as the one that unfolded in the sixth inning.

Batting in front of sluggers Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, Soriano came to the plate with runners on first and second and none out, the score tied 1-1. Traditional National League strategy called for a bunt or a hit-and-run. Piniella did nothing and Soriano struck out.

“If it was the eighth or ninth inning in that situation, I’d do what I have to do and move them up,” Soriano said. “But any earlier in the game, I’m going to use the same approach I always have.”

“The manager talked to me and said, ‘Don’t change nothing.’ That was important to me. I don’t want to change my game.”

Hard to blame him. Soriano’s game was strong enough for him to sign the richest contract in Cubs history, $136 million over eight years. He will make $13 million this year, $16 million in 2009 and $18 million each year from 2010 to 2014. It’s important to keep a player who eats up that much of the team’s payroll healthy and in the lineup.

The idea came to Piniella last year when Soriano was out of the lineup for three weeks with the quadriceps injury. Theriot batted .321 leading off during that time and finished the season with 28 stolen bases in 32 attempts.

Another factor is a rumored trade with the Baltimore Orioles that would bring second baseman and leadoff hitter Brian Roberts to Chicago. Better to get Soriano accustomed to batting second now rather than springing it on him closer to opening day or after the season starts.

All the intrigue over where he will bat doesn’t bother Soriano. Not after last spring, when the first question asked by reporters was always the same.

“I don’t have to worry about talking about my contract every day,” he said. “The money, the money, the money. That was always the topic. It’s a very good feeling to have the questions be about something like where I’m batting. It’s baseball, you know?”