Pie continues to impress

[Sports Guy]

What's your definition of properly? I already gave mine: Pie gets at least 2 starts a week, and more than that if he is playing well. Remember, he'll get in some games as a PH or late inning replacement as well.

Getting into a game as a late inning defensive replacement or as a pinch hitter is meaningless to me in terms of real playing time and giving him a chance to develop.

Pie should get 400+ at bats this year..all in the OF.

[El Gordo]

Getting into a game as a late inning defensive replacement or as a pinch hitter is meaningless to me in terms of real playing time and giving him a chance to develop.

Pie should get 400+ at bats this year..all in the OF.

There are 2100 PA to be divided between Pie, Atkins, Scott and Reimold. Unless Reimold, Scott, and Atkins all hit like gangbusters through most of the season, I don't see why Pie cant get at least 400 PA, probably more. But if he doesn't, it will be because we are getting tremendous production from the other 3.

[Mackus]

What's your definition of properly? I already gave mine: Pie gets at least 2 starts a week, and more than that if he is playing well. Remember, he'll get in some games as a PH or late inning replacement as well.

I'd like to see 3 starts a week, especially during weeks where we have 7 games, but I pretty much agree with you.

Start him out on a roughly 400 PA pace. If he is doing well, increase his time, if he struggles, consider scaling it back a bit (after enough time has gone by).

[Mackus]

Getting into a game as a late inning defensive replacement or as a pinch hitter is meaningless to me in terms of real playing time and giving him a chance to develop.

Pie should get 400+ at bats this year..all in the OF.

I agree that the sporadic playing time doesn't really help a lot, but there will also be times where he gets 5-15 straight games started if Jones goes on the DL or Reimold is out for a few games with a nagging injury and things like that.

You don't exactly have to play him at a pace that would net him 450 PAs right out of the bat to get him there.

As long as he's getting 2-3 starts a week, I'll be happy, at least to start off.

[Sports Guy]

I agree that the sporadic playing time doesn't really help a lot, but there will also be times where he gets 5-15 straight games started if Jones goes on the DL or Reimold is out for a few games with a nagging injury and things like that.

You don't exactly have to play him at a pace that would net him 450 PAs right out of the bat to get him there.

As long as he's getting 2-3 starts a week, I'll be happy, at least to start off.

While he can obtain extra playing time due to injuries, his playing time shouldn't be dictated by it either.

Reimold is recovering from an injury...He should be eased back into the field IMO, so Pie should be starting even more from the beginning but I doubt it will happen.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, what is amusing about about these Pie arguments is how many of the anti-Pie people kept saying that he should be released...That he didn't deserve to play last year and things like that.

No matter what Pie does from here on out, those people look pretty poor for those statements.

As most of us have always wanted, we just want to see Pie get proper and consistent playing time...if he fails, fine...But if he does fail, it shouldn't be because he rarely plays.

[mweb]

News flash: Pie doesn't play 1B, which is where Atkins is playing. What you really are saying is that Scott should be playing 1B. It is obvious that the O's decided last season that Scott at 1B isn't a viable option. I don't know why, but that's what they think. So, the O's were going to have another 1B on the roster, whether it was Atkins or someone else. The fact that it is Atkins, as opposed to any 1B you could name, is irrelevant to Pie's playing time.

News flash: That's not a news flash to me or anyone else.

I am saying what I wanted them to do here, why what AM or DT wants to do is brought up to refute my comment is a mystery to me.

[Sports Guy]

News flash: That's not a news flash to me or anyone else.

I am saying what I wanted them to do here, why what AM or DT wants to do is brought up to refute my comment is a mystery to me.

Yea and that poor decision isn't exactly a feather in the cap of AM either.

[Johnny]

Better chance its the Cubs being poor....We have heard from many of the Cubs fans about how upset they were with the way they handled Pie..How he was never given a real chance...How the Cubs just gave up on him too quickly.

This isn't the DRays, Braves or Twins we are talking about here...This is a team that hasn't won anything in forever and felt that a vet was better than Pie...That it gave them a better chance to win.

This wasn't a patient organization that really gave him a chance.

I think the idea that the Cubs dropped him so quickly is totally meaningless. It was obvious Lou P wanted a vet and it was obvious the Cubs handled him poorly.

That would be like saying, John Maine is no good because the Orioles didn't give him a chance...The Orioles were a terrible organization.

Pie really gave the Cubs no reason not to give him regular at bats...but they chose not to...They would rather spend 50 million on Fukudome or give his at bats to Jim Edmonds...That doesn't scream out smart organization to me...and for what I have seen, most Cubs fans agree.

Also, it seems pretty obvious that he works hard...That he is coachable and that he retained what he was being taught last year.

Uh, the Cubs handed Pie the starting CF job, just like the O's handed him the LF job last year. In fact, after they sent him down, I believe the Cubbies handed CF to him a second time. Same result in both organizations: Pie (who raked at AAA Iowa over several stints) could not hit. In Chicago he was also pretty bad with routes and his throws were lollipops.

Perhaps it was the bench time that made him focus. Maybe he just got comfortable. Either way, I'll take the Pie we have now. Thanks Hendry.

And before we start talking about bemoaning Cubs fans being a good barometer of a player's potential, ask one of them about Matt Murton... You'll laugh until you realize they're serious.....

[Sports Guy]

Uh, the Cubs handed Pie the starting CF job, just like the O's handed him the LF job last year. In fact, after they sent him down, I believe the Cubbies handed CF to him a second time. Same result in both organizations: Pie (who raked at AAA Iowa over several stints) could not hit. In Chicago he was also pretty bad with routes and his throws were lollipops.

Perhaps it was the bench time that made him focus. Maybe he just got comfortable. Either way, I'll take the Pie we have now. Thanks Hendry.

And before we start talking about bemoaning Cubs fans being a good barometer of a player's potential, ask one of them about Matt Murton... You'll laugh until you realize they're serious.....

Not really...He had like 220 at bats total in time in Chicago(these at bats spanned 2 seasons as well) and never had more than like 75 at bats in a month.

That's not any kind of an oppurtunity...certainly not one worth mentioning.

[Johnny]

Not really...He had like 220 at bats total in time in Chicago(these at bats spanned 2 seasons as well) and never had more than like 75 at bats in a month.

That's not any kind of an oppurtunity...certainly not one worth mentioning.

I think anytime a player is named starting CF out of ST, that counts as an opportunity. The extent of his opportunity was more a factor of how bad he was -and trust me, he was as horrible then as he was in April last year- and the Cubs' desire to win that year.

That being said, I like the fact that they gave up on him to compete because he is starting to live up to that potential....

[Big Mac]

I think anytime a player is named starting CF out of ST, that counts as an opportunity. The extent of his opportunity was more a factor of how bad he was -and trust me, he was as horrible then as he was in April last year- and the Cubs' desire to win that year.

That being said, I like the fact that they gave up on him to compete because he is starting to live up to that potential....

Most rookies struggle over their first ~200 ML AB's expecting a young player to produce right away in the ML is ridiculous and unrealistic.

[Johnny]

Most rookies struggle overr their first ~200 ML AB's expecting a young player to produce right away in the ML is ridiculous and unrealistic.

yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.

They gave him two chances in 07, one in April and one in June. June was the longer stint (about 100 AB and 20 games started and I belive it was due to an injury but don't quote me on that). He hit about .200 with 20 SO, 10 BB, and looked bad doing it. Even a team looking to bring a young guy along can't sustain that for long if there's no signs of improvement (which if they were there, they were few and far between).

I guess I'm saying I can understand why the Cubs -not exactly shy about throwing large sums of money at average players- would make the "safe" decision to go with the player who sort of produces now over one that could be an all star. I can understand it, I don't neccesarily agree with it.

Last year Pie took a huge leap and we are fortunate to have him. We're also fortunate to have a FO and batting coach willing to give a player with that kind of tallent the time he needed. Hopefully -and all signs point to it- he wil continue to improve (and wouldn't another leap be great)?

[NCRaven]

Yea and that poor decision isn't exactly a feather in the cap of AM either.

I understand your support for Pie. But, if MacPhail, Trembley and the coaching staff are agreed that Luke Scott is not a major league 1Bman, I will take their word for it. Just think it's presumptuous to call it a "poor decision" at this point in time. It remains to be seen how Pie, Reimold and Scott will split up AB's between LF and DH, so the judgment stage can probably wait awhile. My own wish is that Scott do well enough to generate trade interest and give the FO some options if Reimold and Pie both continue to show high-ceiling potential during the course of this season. I'm bullish on all of Reimold, Pie and Snyder, so I think we could have some interesting choices in the LF/DH/1B arena by the end of the season.

[DrungoHazewood]

Most rookies struggle over their first ~200 ML AB's expecting a young player to produce right away in the ML is ridiculous and unrealistic.

Is this actually true? I mean, yea, it probably is when you include all rookies because probably 50% or 75% of "rookies" hit .224 in 65 at bats and you never see them again. But if you mean "guys who go on to have some kind of career", I'm not sure it's true.

Take 2007 rookies, just because. Ryan Braun had over a 1.000 OPS his first two full months in the majors. Tulowitzki didn't hit in 100 PAs in '06, then improved throughout '07. Hunter Pence had over a .900 OPS his first two months. Chris Young kind of fits your profile, as he didn't really hit a lot until month three in the majors. Yunel Escobar hit over .300 every month of his rookie year. James Loney's first 200 PAs ended up with an OPS well over .900. Pedrioa didn't hit a lick for about 150 PAs, but then put up 1.000 in May of his rookie year. Delmon Young's first 130 PAs in '06 were probably the best of his career. Reggie Willits' career OBP peaked somewhere in June of his rookie year. And Josh Fields hit real well in July of '07, about 100 PAs into his career.

Small sample, obviously. But seems to me, if you're any good, you have at least a 50/50 shot of being pretty good right from the start.