Alfonso Soriano Miffed With Lou Piniella

If there's one thing the Cubs have lacked this season, it is drama. Seriously, what a yawn-fest they've been from a theatrical standpoint. It's about time someone complained about something for the simple purpose of injecting some life into the group. Thankfully, Alfonso Soriano and his robust .292 on-base percentage stepped up Thursday. He apparently has a problem with Lou Piniella's decision to start Jake Fox in place of him in left field Wednesday afternoon.

Now, the informed Cubs fans might think something is weird here. After all, late last week Piniella told Soriano he would be getting more rest in the upcoming weeks. I guess we just don't understand, so we'll let him explain. Alfonso is mad because he didn't know in advance.

"That's why I'm mad," Soriano said. "If he had told me [Tuesday], then I wouldn't come today ready to play [Wednesday]."

You see, since Soriano came ready to play and was not in the lineup, it threw his whole schedule off kilter. He wasn't able to wave in futility at 13 out-of-the-strike-zone breaking pitches when he was sitting on the bench. He had his back and arms ready for that undue stress he causes in a usual game, and his readiness was all for naught.

Do you understand how difficult it is to come to a Major League Baseball park ready to play and then have to sit on the bench? Being "ready to play" is a state of mind no layperson could even begin to grasp.

OK, let me transition from overly-sarcastic mode and head straight into just-plain-bitter mode.

Soriano is making $17 million to play baseball this season. There are 162 regular season games. That's almost $105,000 per game. Personally, I don't think it's too much to ask to show up every freaking game ready to play without knowing if you are in the starting lineup or not. If you are starting the game on the bench, you should be in the mindset to help your team in any way possible. Instead, the man who may be underachieving more than any other healthy player in baseball this season -- especially since the middle of May, in which time he's had an OPS some pitchers can reach -- is complaining he didn't know in advance that he wasn't in the lineup. It just reeks of someone who takes for granted what he gets to do for a living. I don't often side opposite the players and I respect what they do, but the two things that infuriate me more than anything are a lack of accountability for mistakes and a sense of entitlement. Soriano is displaying the latter in this case.

Here's a thought: Maybe Piniella hadn't made up his mind on the batting order for the next day yet when Soriano departed the ballpark Tuesday night. Maybe Soriano should make adjustments and learn to lay off breaking pitches a foot low and another foot outside. This is his ninth full season of Major League Baseball, after all. Maybe he should hustle the way people like Sam Fuld or Bobby Scales do, two guys who have about half the God-given ability to play baseball that Soriano does.

It's about time to shut up and play baseball. It is a privilege, not a right.