I can’t believe teams keep cutting him loose. He is a quality major league player.

But you also notice he was cut relatively quickly, and at a time when Pie was still horrible. So what then? They should’ve carried Pie, and stuck it out with him even if he played like Gathright to start the year? You know as well as I there would’ve been 100 posts by late April on how the Pie experiment was over, and it was time to trade or DFA him.

to make everything “all or nothing” in your rebuttals. You address the bunting issue with a discussion about power? You don’t even address bunting or the art of it. Why can’t the Cubs develop a well-rounded player who can hit, hit for average, drive balls in the gap, use OB skills, and steal a bag? Pie has all those tools, no? Why would you say I am asking him to become a Michael Bourn clone?

I will tell you Pie is a faster runner than either Granderson or Hunter. And he doesn’t come close to having their power either. They are more dis-similar than similar. I never mentioned a thing about “power” or telling Pie to forget about it.

Furthermore, Pie was a raw Dominicano who never had the luxury of playing in H.S. learning the game of baseball. Hunter was a top draft pick and H.S. All American baseball player. Also, Granderson had the fortune of playing 3 years collegiately—raking almost at a .500 clip his junior year. Again their backgrounds are not even close.

Let’s address your numbers—can you tell me how many of those bunt attempts were bunts for hits versus a sacrifice? I doubt it. And, if so, do you have success rates of bunting for a hit?

I said his tool of SPEED needed to be turned into a SKILL. One of the skills of speed is bunting and another would be basestealing. Two things Pie is not very good at. So the Cubs failed to take his raw tool (SPEED) and turn it into a useful baseball skill(s).

You don’t simply tell players to stop hitting for power either. I wasn’t suggesting turning Pie into Luis Castillo, just simply saying he could have developed another tool in his bag. Dropping an ocassional bunt for a hit can curtail prolonged slumps. This is one of those things that cannot be measured by stats. It’s an “inside the game” thing that a player with his speed should have been coached/taught to execute. Heck, even faking a bunt gets fielders to move and change positions—that’s a good thing.

I don’t see how Hunter and Granderson were even brought into this.