Soriano

[Cardinals]

I told Zalaski that Soriano would likely need to be benched. Instead of wasting time, he's just going to make his case. He said,

i guess the only differentiating point to me is that when Santana and Sizemore got hurt (from what I'm reading) they got shut down. Soriano was clearly playing through the injury until the Cubs fell out of the race, and then got shut down. Obviously this takes into account how long each team was playing into the post-season, but Soriano was not shut down by himself or the team physicians - rather his manager. If the Cubs were battling for a playoff spot, Soriano would be playing, because he was playing with the injury. I think there's everything in the timing to this injury - he demonstrated that he was willing to play through the pain.

Now the latest on Soriano from Rotoworld is:

Alfonso Soriano said he plans to have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this month after manager Lou Pinella shut him down on Friday.
"Lou said it's not good to play on one leg," said Soriano. "I was 80 percent, but now I'm down to 50 or 60 percent. I play with my knee on my mind, and I'm scared to get hurt. If we're out [of it], it's better to do the surgery before we go to the Dominican [for the off-season]." The surgery would likely sideline him for two weeks, so depending on when he undergoes the procedure, he could miss the rest of the season. And with the Cubs currently seven games out of the Wild Card, it may not matter. Soriano is batting .241/.303/.423 with 20 homers, 55 RBI and nine stolen bases this season. Jake Fox's stock just went up.

and before that:

The Cubs plan to sit Alfonso Soriano indefinitely until his ailing knee shows signs of improvement.
Manager Lou Piniella said that "there is no timetable" for Soriano's return, but would not go so far to say that Soriano would be out for the season. Soriano will continue doing exercises with the team trainer, but the rest of the season looks bleak for him judging by the tone of Piniella's words. Jake Fox could see a further spike in playing time in Soriano's absence.

I think Soriano needs to be benched. I also think Sizemore and Santana need to be benched as well. My line of thinking is consistent across the board. Jim pointed out that Santana's play had suffered as a result of his injury- which is true. The same can easily be said of Sizemore and Soriano who are having sub-par years easily. To me it's either they all can play, or none can play. It's not as though it's a minor ache or pain, or dead arm, or arm fatigue or even a groin pull or something. They're going under the knife to have their injury corrected. I just see absolutely nothing to actually distinguish the three injuries. I know Pat Bishop has made no comments on Santana nor has disputed it, but really, what makes his injury any different from Soriano's or Sizemore's? He's very similar to Soriano in that both procedures were arthro, or will be in Soriano's case. And he's been battling it all year. I refer to Rule V part 3 which states

3. Players who are shown to not be playing due to physical ailment are considered injured.

Like I said, for innings, or dead arm, or general fatigue or minor injuries, I'm ok with guys playing through it and I want to err on the side of as many guys available as possible. But for something where they would easily land on the DL if it weren't in September (Sizemore already hit the DL this year), I'm for benching the players.

So my vote on Soriano is No, he can't play. I told Z I wouldn't sim his games until we voted on this to be fair and allow him to send a new lineup.

[Cardinals]

Also, I think perhaps we should set forward a rule that if a player is obviously hurt and but not exactly shut down for the year, we should abandon the two week DL policy and allow them to play when they demonstrate they can play. Soriano in this case, Michael Young is another. They aren't being placed on the DL, but they might not be out 2 full weeks either, but they are clearly hurt.

To further my idea/example:

If Soriano is out until next Tuesday, then Z can activate him on Tuesday instead of waiting two full weeks, since there was no actual DL'ing. This would be consistent with the injury rule that I posted in the above post. And the same would apply to Mike Young- and any September injury we deem a player needs to sit down for. I'm not counting minor injuries, arm fatigue, dead arm, bla bla, but for something relatively major, I think this if the fairest route to go.

[Astros]

I'm voting yes on Soriano playing, because I'd have voted yes if I got a vote on Sizemore and want to be consistant and not appear that I'm just looking out for me. I do like JP's idea stated above and that's fine with me if y'all want to push that through

[Rangers]

I like JP's idea too

[Dodgers]

I'll be honest...I'm really indifferent on the topic of injuries. We're going to catch flak either way, so the only thing that matters to me is consistency. JP's rule seems to make the most sense and probably appeases both ends of the argument, so I like it.

[Padres]

I am fine with JP's guidelines ...

[Nationals]

The rule tweak seems fair to me.

[Cardinals]

OK, I'm going to allow Soriano to play through this weekend because Sizemore played this weekend. But from here on out until Soriano plays he's not going to be IBC eligible.

We should also look into Josh Hamilton. He's been out since September 2nd and, "was given a cortisone shot in his ailing back Friday and will be shut down for at least a week." The Rangers are obviously in a playoff race too so that argument is not really applicable. I'm thinking he should be shut down ala Soriano - until he plays again this year.

[Astros]

I'll agree to that

[Dodgers]

Seems to make sense to me.

[Nationals]

Sounds about right to me