Piniella says Soriano won't lead off anymore

The Alfonso-Soriano-as-leadoff-man saga appears to be over once and for all.

Or so says Cubs manager Lou Piniella.

"No, that's over with," Piniella said Friday. "That's over with. No, we're not going to do that."

For two-and-a-half years, Piniella ran Soriano out there as the leadoff hitter through thick and thin. It was more thin this year, with Soriano's on-base percentage dipping below .300 at times and his power vanishing as he had trouble with his left knee.

Piniella finally moved Soriano to sixth in early July.

As far as the knee goes, Soriano is getting closer to having arthroscopic surgery.

"He's going to go see his own doctor to get a second opinion on this thing," Piniella said. "We'll probably know something in the next few days. I would categorize it as doubtful that he'd return. Doubtful. I would think that if he as the procedure done before the end of the year, it would be just to clean it out a little bit."

Kosuke Fukudome led off Friday. He and Ryan Theriot have shared leadoff duties since Soriano was moved down. Asked if he thought Fukudome could be the leadoff hitter next year, Piniella wavered.

"It depends on what the club does over the winter," Piniella said. "We'll see. I like him at the top part of our lineup. I don't know about specifically the leadoff spot. The way we're put together here, he and Theriot basically are our best options. Depending on what happens over the winter, we would stay that way. But if we got somebody who could really steal bases, that was capable of stealing 30-40 bases, then that would change, obviously."

Piniella deferred to general manager Jim Hendry on what the Cubs might need for next year.

"I think that if you look at our offense here, if you add one good speed player and one RBI bat would be the things that you would look at," Piniella said. "But that's Jim's department."

The Cubs might be in the market for infielders Chone Figgins or Orlando Hudson. Theriot's OBP has fallen to .335. It was .387 last year.

Award for Wells? Randy Wells pitches today against the Reds, taking a 10-8 record and 2.84 ERA into the game. He'll be a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year honors.

"Randy's done a nice job," Lou Piniella said. "He easily could have 13 or 14 wins.

"He's given us quality start after quality start. Hopefully, it's recognized. Hopefully, it will be, around baseball."

Minor matters: The Cubs' Class A Peoria team was eliminated two games to none by Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League playoffs 9-8 Thursday. Rebel Ridling went 3-for-5 with 3 runs, and Kyler Burke was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double.

Class AA Tennessee entered Friday down 1-0 in the Southern League playoffs after falling 4-2 to Huntsville. Tyler Colvin homered for Tennessee in Game 1.