I know the season is still young, in fact almost too young to make predictions or show concern over the slow start of some players. If you’re in Chicago, however, you should be at least a tad bit worried about the current status of your $136 million center fielder.

Alfonso Soriano left the game last night vs the Padres with an injured hamstring, an injury (if you ask Junior) that can tend to linger based on its severity. The real concern that I have isn’t the injury. It’s the .245 batting average, the lone RBI, and the lack of his first home run as a Cub.

I know there were concerns surrounding Pujols, concerns surrounding Big Papi, and even some worries about Jermaine Dye. They’ve all righted their respective ships. Soriano…hasn’t. Here’s a guy who hit 46 home runs last year for Washington, at a stadium in RFK that isn’t exactly a place known to surrender home runs like the friendly confines of Wrigley. At this time last year, Soriano already had three home runs and three stolen bases. This year, he has one stolen base.

I’m sure that eventually he will come around and turn into the $136 million player that the Cubs signed this off season. He’s far too talented not to. What worries me is that he’s not dealing well with the pressure that has been put on him by a Cubs team that needs him to produce. It seems to me like he’s taking far less pitches than last year, that he’s pressing to get the big hit, and that he’s just trying to get the figurative hitting monkey off his back. What he needs to do is remember how he hit bombs last year in the nation’s capital, and everything should be fine. For now, heal the hammy.