Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum revealed what part of his Opening Day lineup will look like this afternoon. Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Sullivan was the first to tweet the news, so we'll give him the honors:
Sveum sez DeJesus will lead off this year and Sori will bat 4th or 5th.
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) March 10, 2012
Soriano had been occasionally hitting leadoff in Spring Training games.
DeJesus was brought to Chicago this offseason by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer on a 2-year, $10 million deal. He's had experience hitting leadoff for before with the Kansas City Royals, and appear to be the obvious answer atop the lineup all along.
DeJesus will certainly have to improve on his on-base percentage if he wants to stick in the leadoff spot for long. He OBP'd just .323 last season in 442 at-bats with Oakland, about .15 below the league-average. DeJesus did have a career-high on-base percentage of .384 in 91 games with KC in 2010.
Hitting fourth or fifth should also suit Soriano well. He certainly couldn't hit leadoff after finishing 2011 with a laughable .289 on-base percentage, but his power numbers are respectable. Soriano whacked 26 dingers last year and finished with a .469 slugging percentage. Whether they'll be anyone on-base for Soriano to drive-in remains to be seen, but it's for Cubs fans to get some sense of what the 2012 team will look like.
Baseball, it'll be here before you know it.
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