n/t

we havent won in …well u know. take the pressure off him?? we have the best chance of winning a championship in my lifetime alone. pie needs to go, he is a for sure out. send him to AAA and let him play everyday while our major league players play mlb.

I am slowly losing confidence but give him some time without sitting him. See what happens. If he is to be traded though, send him to Iowa, let him tear it up again like he always does because all any scouts will see now is a guy with no hope at this level. Hopefully, time at AAA will help distance scouts from these opinions. Then trade him for something good (put him in a package).

That Lou would give him the world if he went 0-25 and had GOOD ABs. Most of you are missnig the point, his ABs are NOT good, bottom line, hits are hits, and yes they help, but you are a fool if you think Lou doesnt know younger guys put pressure on themselves and make mistakes, it happens. That is why they look at his ABs, not the stat sheet. And to be honest Pie has a great person to model himself after, Fukudome, and if Pie can have a game where he takes bad pitches, fouls a few pitches off with 2 strikes on him, or takes a walk for the first time this year, i can almost asure you he will start the following game. But he doesnt do that. There is such a thing as a good strikeout as well, but he cannot even do that. He needs to get himself better ABs, not necessarily get more hits, but better ABs or quality ones.

I am not giving up on the guy, but we are expecting something that is not there right now, and we all praise Lou for being the man to make changes, and if you dont perform you are out, what do you expect? Lou wants to win, and a guy who has Ked 10 times in 26 ABs is he really the answer? I just dont think so right now.

He does get down 0-2, but he never fouls a pitch off or anything like that. He needs to get himself in a better position to see more pitches and find his pitch. He doesnt give himself enough time to do that.

The 8 spot is what suits him best, if you think that the pitchers will not and are not throwing anything around the plate, then tell him to go up there and dont swing at any pitch. Make him watch every pitch into the glove. Sometimes in baseball a walk or a bunt solves all hitting woes. Helps you see the ball better. Pie has ZERO walks this year, and i am not sure about bunts.

I was thinking the same thing. All organizations, including non-baseball, have to find that balance between veterans you know can deliver and giving talented high-potentials time to grow “in the game”. Its a real tough call given the expecations of this year, but I think I agree with wicubfan above…take your chances and give him 50 games. To your point, what he lacks in offense he makes up for a little by keeping the other team off the board.

maybe thats just us! I was thinking the same thing this weekend while watching the games at Phily. Every time the top/middle of the order would come up I would get uneasy thinking about Utley, Howard, and Burrell. do you think other fans feel that way when they see Fonze, Lee, A-Ram??? Maybe we are just blind to it because its our team and we live the dissapointments as well, but it doesn’t seem like we strike fear into the hearts of our competiton the way they do with us.

Or maybe we have just been conditioned to feel this way about our team becasue of all the loosing over the years???

kaseyi, a frequent BCB poster and a friend, maintains this Cubs all-time uniform number page. Here are all the #20’s in the expansion era (since 1961):

Jim McAnany(1961), Billy Ott(1962,1964), Billy Cowan(1963-64), Don Landrum(1965), Ty Cline(1966), Adolfo Phillips(1966-69), Oscar Gamble(1969), Rick Bladt(1969), Al Spangler (1970), Boots Day(1970), Jose Ortiz(1971), Chris Ward(1972,1974), Mick Kelleher(1976-80), Scott Fletcher(1981-82), Wayne Nordhagen(1983), Thad Bosley(1983), Bobby Dernier(1984-87), Dave Meier(1988), Jerome Walton(1989-92), Eric Yelding(1993), Todd Haney(1994), Howard Johnson(1995), Bret Barberie(1996), Miguel Cairo(1997), Matt Mieske(1998), Chad Meyers(1999-00), Corey Patterson(2001-05), Jae-Kuk Ryu(2006), Felix Pie (2007-08)

Not an awe-inspiring list.

I swear an AB where he watches all pitches, and takes in what the pitcher is throwing him will do him wonders. Or a bunt or something to get him seeing the ball better.

IMO, the Cubs are probably beginning to crush his confidence…....

He is pretty much hated across this board – If he were to get 15 more ABs, and Pie Zero. Lets say he goes 1-15, and Ks 9 times out of the 14 outs. Would you say give him a chance? Would you say he sucks?

How much longer really do we give Pie?

I can buy the fact that it’s still early, that’s he’s really tight at the plate and he’s trying to do too much in his AB’s. A good AB is one that any good batter knows “comes” to you. It’s when the batter is able to know and act upon the fine difference between a good pitch sequence and a pitcher also trying to do too much and keeps plate discipline firmly in place. Case in point – the Fukudome AB which made him an opening day legend for all time. Gagne was flustered, distracted and felt the pressure – and Fukudome could smell it and made him pitch to him.

Pie’s still young and I think he can still get it together at the plate .. but the Cubs have got to keep their momentum going. This is the majors .. not AAA ball. Felix has had plenty of time to show he’s got that mental edge – the Cubs have given him all the leash he’s needed to show that – unfortunately – he’s still needing some tutelage.

After the last three seasons, I’m more then ready to watch the Cubs hammer out a 90-95 win season to ensure they’re in charge of their own destiny and frankly, Felix is becoming more of a liability at this point .. and Lou’s going to tinker.

If he does, Patterson and Johnson are ready to go. Give Pie time to think about his issues elsewhere back in Iowa and give these men a chance to keep the fires burning.