Alfonso Soriano is earning his keep

Alfonso Soriano cashed in on his epic 2006 40/40/40 season with an eight year deal with the Cubs worth $136 million.

Now, the Cubs are looking to Soriano to be money down the stretch.

The Soriano the Cubs and their fans have seen recently is the player they expected coming from Washington. The Cubs are 23-8 since Soriano came off the DL for a second time and has been using all of his tools to help pace the Cubs.

He's throwing runners out at the plate.

He's stealing bases.

And most important of all, he's hitting the cover off the baseball.

He's batting .288 with 22 home runs and 62 runs batted in out of the lead-off spot that no one wants him hitting in. His on-base percentage currently sits at .341 with an OPS of .889. The OBP isn't particularly good for a lead-off man, but would be his best since the .351 OBP he posted in 2006 with the Nats.

If Soriano can atone for the .143/.200/.143 line he posted against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2007 NLDS and lead the Cubs to the promised land, no one will care about the $106 million remaining on the back end of his contract

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