Cubs Shutting Down Soriano Indefinitely With Sore Knee

NEW YORK -- Already clinging to slim wild-card hopes, the Cubs have now shut down left fielder Alfonso Soriano indefinitely with a sore left knee.

"Look, this is the right approach," manager Lou Piniella said Friday. "I thought about this long and hard yesterday on the airplane trip from Chicago to here and all last night I vacillated about it. And this morning I still felt the same way, that this was the best thing to do for this young man. And I stick to it."

Asked if Soriano might be done for the season, Piniella said, " I'm not going to go that far. ... I don't know exactly when or how soon, but we'll revisit it."

Soriano has been bothered by the knee since at least Aug. 25, when he was scratched from the lineup. He underwent an MRI on Saturday, which revealed inflammation, and sat out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as he recovered from an anti-inflammatory injection.

But he went 1-for-7 with four strikeouts in two games after returning, dropping his average to .241.

"The crux of it is, his knee is not strong," Piniella said. "He's having trouble playing on it, hitting on it. ... We appreciate the fact that he wants to play. He's a gamer. He wants to help us. But at this time ... because of the knee, he's not able to do that."

Pineilla said he could use Soriano as a pinch hitter but prefers to rest hit totally.

In the third season of an eight-year, $136 million contract, Soriano has played in 117 games, hitting 20 homers with 55 RBI and a .303 on-base percentage. Soriano has one home run and seven RBI in 91 at-bats since July 31.

Sam Fuld was in left field Friday against the Mets, and Piniella indicated Fuld could get most of the time at the position with Soriano out.