the Cubs have enough offense right now to carry them if Pie struggles at first. you platoon him now you'll just set him back a year. I want to see the Cubs do with him what they did with Soto... give him the job and let him make or break himself.

the worst that can happen is we get a .250 BA out of him and stellar CF defense.

doesn't want to be a back up. So we would be kinda dumb to trade for him and have him split time with Pie. So if we got him he would have to start in CF, which would suck. Personally I don't get why some still want us to trade for a starting CF and bench Pie. Hasn't Pie earned the job this spring by hitting 300/352/832 with 2 HR and 7 RBI?

I'm all four adding a back up CF, since I know Fukudome doesn't wanna play much CF. But we gotta let Pie play at least mostly against RH pitchers. Marcus Thames, Brandon Inge aren't CF and Lofton sucks as bad as Pie does against LH pitching. So those guys make no sense to add right now. Personally if the Cubs think Reed Johnson can play a ok CF he would be the guy I hope we got after. Reed Johnson is a career 308/.371/.462 hitter against LH pitchers. So a platoon with me and Pie would work very well IMO.

go through his growing pains at the ML level. They already know that he would be one of the best CF in the league, so he's not going to be a liability defensively. The Cubs will have enough thump in their lineup to be able to carry Pie hitting 8th in the batting order. You never know, he may surprise. When the light finally goes on with this kid, he is going to be something special. I just hope that it is with the Cubs.

were going to be hot after Reed Johnson.

"Center-field help? Lou Piniella revealed Sunday that the Cubs might be closer to picking up help, perhaps in center field.

"I think the odds increased a little bit today that something might happen," Piniella said.

The Cubs have interest in outfielder Reed Johnson, who was given his unconditional release by the Toronto Blue Jays. They seem to like Johnson better than Jeff DaVanon, who was let go by the Padres.

Back surgery limited Johnson to a .236 average and 2 homers last year. In 2006, he had a .390 on-base percentage.

If the Cubs were to sign Johnson, he'd be a right-handed backup to Felix Pie. General manager Jim Hendry has said he will add at least one player before camp breaks."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=159244&src=152

Inge and Thames cannot play CF, so they don't really qualify as an option to back up in CF. If we were considering that route, we might as well stick with Murton as the platoon with Pie, and have Fukudome play CF when Pie sits.

Crisp isn't a realistic option as a backup either. He's chafed at backing up Ellsbury in Boston. I can't imagine he'd be happy being traded to a lesser team to take the wrong end of a platoon role in Chicago.

Lofton is left-handed, which means he's not really suited to be a platoon player with Pie.

So that leaves Reed Johnson and Jeff DaVanon.

Johnson is a corner OF. He has played less than 30 games in CF since 2004, and has less than 70 games there in his entire career. And he's coming off of back problems, which really makes me wonder if he can handle even part-time duty in CF.

DeVanon is the only guy who has actually played CF for any appreciable time. He has a few things going for him as well: he's fairly fast, he gets on base, he can switch hit, and he can play all three OF spots if necessary. He's the guy I'd get out of that group listed. It doesn't hurt that he might not command a trade if he clears waivers.

Other than DaVanon, I'd be okay with a Murton/Pie platoon, with Fukudome playing CF when Murton plays.

I would make Pie my back-up CF and start Fukudome in CF for most of the games. Murton's hitting the cover off of the ball and looks like he's ready for a big year. If Pie starts to play well, then I look at trading Murton, Soriano or Fukudome (most likely Murton).

Juan Pierre on the list. He can play CF, he's "fast", he knows Wrigley Field, and the Dodgers apparently really want to move him. I would think he would be a prime target for Dusty Baker in Cincy (perhaps Bruce or Votto to the Dodgers for Pierre - that's a typical Baker trade) and he's also a "hendry" type of fit.

...to title this is co-CF, not backup CF.

I have a feeling, someone other than Pie, will get plenty of action in CF this year.