This Just In - Cuts - Pauley clears waivers

[JTrea81]

Jones was handed CF last season the day after the Bedard and you know it. And for the record let's not pretend AJ didn't take his lumps either, his great ST didn't exactly translate into instant Major League success.

 I Split         G   GS  PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF ROE GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  BAbip sOPS+ tOPS+ Split+-+------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------------+  [b]April/March   27  26 103  95  10  25  7  1  1   8   6   0  23   1   0   1   2   1   3  1  .263  .311  .389  .700  .333    91    97 April/March    May           27  26  99  93   8  21  3  1  1   9   5   0  23   1   0   0   0   1   1  0  .226  .273  .312  .585  .290[/b]    60    66 May            June          27  24 107  99  13  32  5  1  2  12   5   0  24   0   1   2   1   1   3  1  .323  .349  .455  .804  .400   114   126 June           July          25  25 110 100  19  28  2  3  3  19   3   0  21   5   1   1   3   4   1  1  .280  .330  .450  .780  .325   104   119 July           August         2   2  11  11   3   5  0  0  0   2   0   0   1   0   0   0   0   1   0  0  .455  .455  .455  .909  .500   143   160 August         Sept/Oct      24  20  84  79   8  18  4  1  2   7   4   0  16   0   0   1   0   4   2  0  .228  .262  .380  .642  .258    68    79 Sept/Oct   

I already said Jones was handed CF. The point is he showed in ST that he deserved a roster spot. He stepped it up. Pie hasn't. It could be that his swing just doesn't translate to the majors, I don't know. But Jones' ST showed that he had the ability. Ditto for Markakis in 2006. Both struggled out of the gate, but at least they showed promise in ST to stick with them. Pie has yet to show that this ST, therefore I am skeptical he'll do it in the regular season even if given regular ABs...

[tywright]

I already said Jones was handed CF. The point is he showed in ST that he deserved a roster spot. He stepped it up. Pie hasn't. It could be that his swing just doesn't translate to the majors, I don't know. But Jones' ST showed that he had the ability. Ditto for Markakis in 2006. Both struggled out of the gate, but at least they showed promise in ST to stick with them. Pie has yet to show that this ST, therefore I am skeptical he'll do it in the regular season even if given regular ABs...

FYI, Pie is heating up. His last 6 games, he's 7 for 19 (.368 BA) with 3 doubles and 3 walks.

[Maverick2143]

I already said Jones was handed CF. The point is he showed in ST that he deserved a roster spot. He stepped it up. Pie hasn't. It could be that his swing just doesn't translate to the majors, I don't know. But Jones' ST showed that he had the ability. Ditto for Markakis in 2006. Both struggled out of the gate, but at least they showed promise in ST to stick with them. Pie has yet to show that this ST, therefore I am skeptical he'll do it in the regular season even if given regular ABs...

Since we are hanging our hat on a 34 AB sample size in ST, I'll throw in that Pie had a .300 Avg and an .841 OPS in 24 AB's in September last year. Similar sample size, similar results.

[Flosman]

True, but Jones has adapted to MLB much faster than Pie. And Jones earned his spot in 2008 ST even though he had it already. Pie has yet to show that he's done that. I think we can agree if there was a competition based on ST results only, Pie would not win the LF spot. There was no question with Jones' performance in 2008 ST.

Let's hope...

Was it the first season line of 216/237/311 or the 2nd of 246/300/400 were it is evident AJ was adapting MUCH faster than Pie? This is a crazy statement. Believe me there were still questions about Jones after ST last year. He has big time talent but it is still a work in progress just like Pie.

BTW did you know that Pie's last month in the majors was better than any month (with over 12 ABs) AJ has had in his career. Not that I think it means anything really very small sample size and all.

[JTrea81]

FYI, Pie is heating up. His last 6 games, he's 7 for 19 (.368 BA) with 3 doubles and 3 walks.

That's promising but he's also played a ton of CF in those games including today. I wonder why they aren't just leaving him in LF? I know Scott has to play, but Markakis could get some more time off. Pie's performance increase could have something to do with his comfort level being greater when he's playing CF than LF...

[Burg]

That's promising but he's also played a ton of CF in those games including today. I wonder why they aren't just leaving him in LF? I know Scott has to play, but Markakis could get some more time off. Pie's performance increase could have something to do with his comfort level being greater when he's playing CF than LF...

Or it could be just an irrelevant 6 game spring training sample.

[RShack]

The point is he showed in ST that he deserved a roster spot. He stepped it up. Pie hasn't.

You continue to operate under the delusion that ST works like open auditions.

People keep telling you it doesn't, yet you keep pretending it does.

It doesn't matter how you think ST should work. Having an opinion about that is way different than believing that's how ST does work.

To keep claiming that it works that way, and therefore people are missing something, is behaving somewhat like Rain Man.

Face it, ST is generally *not* like open auditions. Throughout the world of ML baseball outside your head, it's just not.

The fact that you have the idea that ML ST does work that way has zilch to do with anything real.

You are ignoring how reality works. You might as well get upset that teachers and nurses don't get paid like FA's. Same thing.

[Leitch]

Pie's performance increase could have something to do with his comfort level being greater when he's playing CF than LF...

I don't understand the desperate attempts to turn noise into signal.

Pie has gone 7 for 19 over the last 6 games. 7/19=.36842105263..., therefore Pie might not hit if he is in LF.

In 19 ABs, every hit is pretty much .050 of average. If Pie went 8/19, he'd be hitting .421. If he went 4/19, he'd be hitting .210

[Roll Tide]

I didn't say Penn would be an innings eater in the pen. Man you need to read better. I was comparing your idea of Eaton vs Penn in the rotation. Penn would NOT be an innings eater in the rotation. If we kept him in the pen, his only purpose would be for mop up duty.

And yes Eaton is pretty bad, but not as bad as Penn right now.

April is going to be rough because of our schedule. We can't afford killing our pen by trotting out Penn to pitch 2 IP a start. That's beyond crazy. At least Eaton could give us a better chance at 4-6 IP.

Actually it is the failure of Mcphail that it lloks like were choosing between these two guys.

[Sports Guy]

No kidding, Sherlock. This is the whole freaking point. Pie doesn't have options. You either DFA & lose Pie or stash Montanez while we figure out if he can put it together. This isn't a difficult choice. On the one hand, you retain both players in the organization. On the other, you lose one of the players for nothing.

What in the world are you even complaining about re: Montanez? I'm honestly not even sure what you're trying to accomplish most days at this point. You can't possibly believe it makes sense to lose Pie by sending him down (he would surely be claimed) just so we can "reward" Montanez for a good spring training, can you? Please tell me that you still have a modicum of sense in that AM-bashing head of yours.

Exactly. You don't know. Yet you sit there and proclaim things like they are set in stone based on 50 at bats. Do you realize how foolish you sound? Pie may never make it or he may be in the middle of a transition that allows him to be the player that people envision. That is the whole point. We don't know what will become of him but we aren't willing to lose him for nothing. This is such a simple concept and you just won't grasp it.

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

[RShack]

If Pie had options, I bet he'd be in AAA to start the season with Montanez on the 25 roster instead.

If Pie had options, he'd be in AAA... but at Iowa, not Norfolk.

[Sports Guy]

If Pie had options, he'd be in AAA... but at Iowa, not Norfolk.

Simple point but so true.

[JTrea81]

If Pie had options, he'd be in AAA... but at Iowa, not Norfolk.

And Luis Montanez would be on the ML roster most likely after earning a spot in ST.

[Sports Guy]

And Luis Montanez would be on the ML roster most likely after earning a spot in ST.

Maybe, maybe not...But so what?

[scottbbfm]

Some of you just need to get over it...its the way the business works. MLB has been setup to reward seniority. Pie has earned his spot because he's been to the show, and he's used up his options. Clearly he's done something over the years to earn that. And he still carries enough cache that other teams want him, or else he'd be in AAA. He basically has 3 more months to prove it. Montanez has had one season of it. In a couple years Montanez's options are going to be up, he's going to have maybe not the best ST, but still keep the spot of some poor 26 yr old who played lights out and "earned" a spot on the roster. Its not t-ball where everyone gets a chance to play. Sometimes you just need to wait your turn. Ask Matt Cassell.