Love The Bomb Part I: Sell on Soto

Detective Batista over there is getting outperformed by a catcher many thought was organizational depth after hitting just 21 HRs over 2000+ plate appearances in the minors in the last six seasons. Steve Clevenger also seems to be outperforming Soto behind the plate. Per Doug Padilla of ESPN Chicago:

"Clevenger has made just five starts and has only 22 at-bats, but still leads the club with five doubles and starting pitchers have a 1.88 when he starts, compared to a 5.29 ERA when he doesn’t." 

For a guy with a defensive skills of the average replacement (-0.1 career dWAR), Soto needs to be providing value from the plate. In his breakout rookie year of 2008, he had an oWAR of 4.0 on a .285 average with 86 RBIs. While also a function of the declining lineup around him, Soto has fallen off since '08, not breaking 500 plate appearances or 55 RBIs in the last three seasons.



We should all be hoping for a turnaround though because if Soto can turn on his "even year" offensive upside, many teams would come calling for his bat by mid-summer. Among those in the market for a backstop are Tampa Bay, a team heavy on prospect depth and hopefully exploitable should they be in the thick of a race with Boston, New York and Toronto come July. Catcher is a position of need and Soto has the potential to return to Top-5 status having just turned 29. However, an impressive start from Clevenger and long-time prospect Welington Castillo waiting in Des Moines with a .955 OPS make Soto expendable during this rebuilding process.

Proposal: C Geovany Soto to Rays, RHPs Alex Colome & Parker Markel and 2B Ryan Brett to Cubs

RHP Alex Colome, Tampa Bay Rays

At his current pace, Soto's probably not worth a Top-10 prospect especially in an organization as strong as the Rays'. However, the strong depth of the Tampa system means they have an abundance of prospects to deal from and may be willing to offer some talent for the jump from Jose Molina's -0.3 career offensive WAR to Geovany Soto. So maybe Theo is able to nab some projectable major leaguers in return for the oft-frustrating Soto. The Cubs should jump at a package built around future mid-rotation arm Alex Colome and a long-term project like right-handed power pitcher Parker Markel.

C Geovany Soto (Age 29) - 2011 (Cubs): .228 BA, .721 OPS, 17 HR, 54 RBI, 0.1 dWAR
RHP Alex Colome (Age 23) - 6'2" 180 lbs - 2011 (A+/AA): 28 starts, 157.2 IP, 3.82 ERA, 123 K, 72 BB

RHP Parker Markel (Age 20) - 6'4" 220 lbs - 2011 (A-): 13 starts, 57.1 IP, 3.14 ERA, 44 K, 23 BB

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Series

Introduction

Part I: Sell on Soto

Part II: Flip the Fonz

Part III: Move Marmol
Part IV: Dump Demp

Conclusion