Your Likely 2010 Cubs Opening Day Lineup

Interesting news out of the Cubs Convention today, as manager Lou Piniella said that Marlon Byrd will be batting fifth in the Cubs' lineup, and Alfonso Soriano will be batting sixth(something Lou already said during the winter meetings). So when the Cubs are in Atlanta on April 5th to begin the season against the Braves, this is the lineup you're likely to see:

1. Ryan Theriot, SS.
2. Kosuke Fukudome, RF.
3. Derrek Lee, 1B.
4. Aramis Ramirez, 3B.
5. Marlon Byrd, CF.
6. Alfonso Soriano, LF.
7. Geovany Soto, C.
8. Jeff Baker/Mike Fontenot,2B(likely Fontenot as they'll surely be facing a right-hander such as Derek Lowe or Jair Jurrjens).
9. Carlos Zambrano, P.

Theriot and Fukudome could definitely be flip-flopped, but I just get the feeling Lou will have Theriot in the leadoff spot. Unless Theriot goes back to being the guy that just gets on base rather than trying to be the power hitter he's not, the Cubs are likely better off with Fukudome leading off, as we know he'll at least have a high on-base percentage and see plenty of pitches.

I see the 5-7 spots in the lineup changing in some way by May. I think at least one of Soriano and Soto will likely be outperforming Byrd at the plate by then, if Soriano's knee is okay following surgery. As we showed you yesterday, Soto's working very hard to make sure he doesn't perform as badly as he did in 2009 again, as he's already lost 40 pounds this offseason.

UPDATE: Well just a few hours after posting that lineup, we can already make a change to it. Piniella had this to say at the convention today:

Jeff Baker will bat seventh, unless Mike Fontenot is playing second, with Geovany Soto eighth.

I'm not a fan of this. While I'm not going to predict Soto repeats his 2008 season, I do think he'll be quite a bit better than the 2009 campaign. This might be a way for the Cubs to tell Soto, "Go out and prove to it to us first", but the guy's already lost 40 pounds this offseason and seems incredibly dedicated to turning things around at the plate. Furthermore, he's not going to see as many good pitches to hit batting right in front of the pitcher in the lineup.

And this isn't related to the lineup, but there was some more interesting stuff from the same article as the above excerpt:

Piniella also expects Andres Blanco to be the back-up shortstop, Sam Fuld as the fifth outfielder, and a "significant" free agent signing for the fourth outfielder's spot. The Cubs are talking to Jermaine Dye about a one-year deal, since Soriano is expected to get more time off in 2010, and Kosuke Fukudome won't play against left-handers. Dye is still waiting for a team to offer him a full-time job.

Link(Chicago Breaking Sports)

I don't expect Jermaine Dye to settle for a fourth outfielder role in the National League, but perhaps he really wants to stay in Chicago and the Cubs can convince him he'll get a fair amount of playing time while Soriano and Fukudome get days off. I'm glad it appears Andres Blanco will make the roster, as they could really use a good glove in the middle of the infield.