Thursday, May 10, 2007

pie down, pagan up

as previously speculated as a possibility in the comments, the cubs sent down felix pie, some three weeks after he was called up.

for better or worse, the kid was not playing -- and if he's not, there's little point in running his service time clock. pie would have to miss another five or six weeks of the majors to safely skirt super-two designation following 2009, and that is probably a concern in the minds of the cubs' front office.

beyond that, perhaps lou piniella considers the defensive decline that comes with having jacque jones in center as offset by an offensive advantage (regardless of how poorly he's hit to date -- in terms of win percentage added, jacque has been the most destructive player on the club). or perhaps piniella is simply unwilling to play a rookie in a key position with a lot of ground to make up. or perhaps pie happened to be on the bench when the club started winning, and no one is willing to mess with good fortune.

in any case, angel pagan was called up to be the last man off the bench. he has hit 250/310/414 in 116 at-bats in iowa.

DepthSPRHRPLHRPCINFOF
1Carlos ZambranoRyan DempsterScott Eyre*Michael BarrettDerrek LeeAlfonso Soriano
2Ted Lilly*Bob HowryWill Ohman*Henry BlancoMark DerosaJacque Jones*
3Jason MarquisMichael WuertzNeal Cotts*Geovany SotoRyan TheriotCliff Floyd*
4Rich Hill*Rocky CherryClay Rapada* Aramis RamirezMatt Murton
5Angel GuzmanRoberto Novoa  Cesar Izturis**Daryle Ward*
6Mark PriorKerry Wood  Ronny CedenoAngel Pagan**
7Juan MateoWade Miller  Scott Moore*Felix Pie*
8Sean Marshall*   Brian DopirakBuck Coats*
9Carlos Marmol     
10Jeff Samardzija     

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