After telling Felix Pie that when he was a ball player he had to walk uphill in three feet of snow both ways, Lou Piniella gave this explanation of why Pie is a worse option than a Jim Edmonds/Reed Johnson platoon:
Piniella said Pie has to "be ready" to succeed on every day, not just once in a while. "I played in the minor leagues six full seasons before I got to the big leagues," he said. "But when I got there, I stayed for 17 years. That's what you have to look at. You can't look at the short haul. … Some kids develop and learn their skills a little later than others, and you have to be patient with them. But at the same time, we're not in a rebuilding situation here."
OK, Lou, we'll play along.
Lou's Rookie Year
In your rookie year, you played in 29 of your team's first 31 games and 62 of the first 67. Here's how you fared:
After 15 games, you were hitting .234 with an OBP of .296. Eegads! Lou, did you come to the park ready to succeed every day - and not just once in a while? If so, your 3-for-20 slump in mid-April does not demonstrate that readiness to succeed.
After 38 games, you were hitting .260 with an OBP of .297. Lou, were you still coming to the park ready to succeed every day - and not just once in a while? If so, your 2-for-18 slump in the week leading up game 38 does not demonstrate that readiness to succeed.
But, Lou, you got your average up to .303 by mid-July and has high as .293 in September. Because you came to the park ready to succeed every day. And because your manager stuck by you, wrote your name on the lineup card every day and LET YOU PLAY FREAKING BASEBALL, giving you the opportunity to succeed.
Felix's Rookie Year
Now, Lou, let's take a peek at how Felix has been handled in his young career:
After 15 games of playing more or less every day in his rookie year of 2007, Felix Pie was hitting .229 (.005 lower than Lou after his first 15 games) with an anemic OBP of .245. Days later, that earned him a month-long demotion to Iowa - presumably because he wasn't coming to the park ready to succeed every day. Only once in a while. Unlike Lou.
After coming back, Felix quickly raised his average to .287 (with a .318 OBP) after seven consecutive starts in early June. Those numbers slid considerably (.227/.275) with a 6 for 48 slump over the next two weeks, earning Pie a week of pinch hitting duties followed by a trip back to Iowa.
Pie returned to the Cubs August 8, started four straight games and then did not start consecutive games the remainder of the season.
In short, he was demoted twice after two bad weeks of baseball.
Felix - Year Two
Felix has started consecutive games on the following occasions:
March 31-April 4 (four games)
April 29-30 (two games)
May 5-7 (three games)
That's it.
So, Lou, instead of yanking Felix around day after day and playing him behind Reed Johnson - who is not appreciably better at baseball than Lyndon Johnson, at this point - why not put him in a situation where he is not constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering which over-the-hill center fielder you are going to bring in to take his job?
Do you and Doughnut Jim truly, truly believe that a platoon of Johnson and Edmonds will perform better - offensively, defensively - than Felix Pie? Really?
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