Cubs recall Angel Pagan

[Rob]

I'm glad Pie will get the AB's needed in AAA, though he should be the teams every day CF. This organization is a complete and utter joke.

 

Have you ever had a measured reaction to anything?

 

They called up Pagan because they assume he will hit LHP because he is a switch hitter yet was horrible vs. lefties last season. Again I say, this organization is a complete joke.

 

I'll take that as a no.

 

Please, inform me and my un-measured reaction, why calling up Pagan is a good move?

 

He hits LHP no better than Pie, and is fraction of the defensive player that Pie is. If Pagan hit LHP well than I could see it.

 

The key to the move is sending Pie back to AAA to play everyday. Pagan is far from ideal. But Pie had to get off the bench.

 

Of course. There is no reason to have the Cubs best prospect sitting on the bench when he needs to be getting regular at bats. He was clearly overmatched at the plate at the major league level so starting him regularly would have hurt the team. Pagan is going to be a part time player and like you said, he has hit LHP pretty well in AAA this year. It's the right move to make.

 

I don't think you can say Pie was "clearly overmatched" when the only thing clear was that he wasn't getting enough PA to get going.

 

I think he wasn't ready. He took one walk in 49 at bats. He was doing well in this regard in AAA and then when he was called up he regressed considerably. It's a small sample size, but he was really bad when he was here.

 

I'm not gonna debate that Pie was not looking great in his limited playing time. He wasn't. But jumping to the majors is just like jumping from A to AA or AA to AAA... there's an adjustment period involved. The guys who burst onto the scene as fully formed major leaguers are few and far between, guys like Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. For everybody else, it takes a while to make the adjustment. Pie simply wasn't getting enough PA to get it done.

[Mizzou]

Good move. I hope Pie's departure doesn't make Soriano so sad that he starts slumping again.

[KingCubsFan]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

The difference is that the veterans Piniella is referring to are actually pretty good players, whereas Baker would talk about sitting a top prospect in favor of people like Neifi

[jersey cubs fan]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

The difference is that the veterans Piniella is referring to are actually pretty good players, whereas Baker would talk about sitting a top prospect in favor of people like Neifi

 

There's really no difference. Lou's an idiot with regard to this. Hopefully he's not as dumb as Dusty with everything else.

[Guest]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

 

That's disappointing but Lou's actions have already shown that he favors veterans over the young guys.

[Banedon]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

The difference is that the veterans Piniella is referring to are actually pretty good players, whereas Baker would talk about sitting a top prospect in favor of people like Neifi

 

There's really no difference. Lou's an idiot with regard to this. Hopefully he's not as dumb as Dusty with everything else.

 

Yeah, I think Lou is a big step up from Dusty, but he has his flaws, and this is one of them.

 

To me it sounds like when Pie got playing time and Jones was splitting RF with two other players, he went and bitched to Lou. Lou caved. Just my opinion.

[CubColtPacer]

BTW, I thought the quote from the same article was interesting. This is what Hendry said about Pie and what he could work on in the minors:

 

"He's obviously a world-class defender," Hendry said. "He needs to work on the strike zone a little bit, pick up the walks a little bit.

[YearofDaCubs]

BTW, I thought the quote from the same article was interesting. This is what Hendry said about Pie and what he could work on in the minors:

 

"He's obviously a world-class defender," Hendry said. "He needs to work on the strike zone a little bit, pick up the walks a little bit.

[/quote

This is coming from a GM who signs players that don't take walks.

[Amazing_Grace]

BTW, I thought the quote from the same article was interesting. This is what Hendry said about Pie and what he could work on in the minors:

 

"He's obviously a world-class defender," Hendry said. "He needs to work on the strike zone a little bit, pick up the walks a little bit.

 

Yeah that shocked the hell out of me. It's probably way too late at this point for Hendry to save his job by changing his philosophy (he's done unless the team makes the playoffs this season and even that may not save him with new ownership coming in), but maybe he's finally learning something about the value of walks. It's the only time I can ever recall Hendry mentioning anything about anyone needing to take more walks, ever, at all.

 

On topic, this was a necessary move. Jacque just needs to sit against lefties, and Pie needs to get playing time somewhere.

[ltb]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK this move assures that Pie will not reach free agency until after 2013 at the earliest.

 

If he'd stuck all year long, he would've collected a full year of service time, thereby moving up his FA window by a year.

 

wrong

he was already ours until then. holding him down at the start of the season guaranteed it (i think it's only 2 weeks. the cubs did this to kerry wood in 98).

[davearm]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK this move assures that Pie will not reach free agency until after 2013 at the earliest.

 

If he'd stuck all year long, he would've collected a full year of service time, thereby moving up his FA window by a year.

 

wrong

he was already ours until then. holding him down at the start of the season guaranteed it (i think it's only 2 weeks. the cubs did this to kerry wood in 98).

I believe the rule states that if a player is recalled within 20 days of the start of the season, and remains on the roster for the duration of the season, a full year of service time is credited.

 

Pie was recalled on like day 15 or 16, IIRC.

[frostwyrm]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

 

That's disappointing but Lou's actions have already shown that he favors veterans over the young guys.

 

You can't sit vets in April and May? Then when can they sit? In the thick of a pennant race in the 2nd half? I wish someone would ask Lou about this.

[Balsa]

Where is the outrage people? If Dusty would have said something like this last season, you guys would have burned him in effigy outside the stadium.

 

Said Cubs manager Lou Piniella "Pie's a wonderful young man, No. 1, and he's a heck of a ballplayer. It was early in the season for me to sit veterans. You've got to give them more time, and that's exactly what we did. If there's an injury, or for whatever reason, and we bring Pie up again, we'll let him play. Right now wasn't the time in April or May to sit veteran players. You give them more time and give them more respect."

 

You can find that quote with the daily Carrie "literary scribe" at cubs.com.

 

That's disappointing but Lou's actions have already shown that he favors veterans over the young guys.

 

You can't sit vets in April and May? Then when can they sit? In the thick of a pennant race in the 2nd half? I wish someone would ask Lou about this.

Maybe he meant that vets tend to wear down towards the end of the year, and that's the time to call up the youngsters who still have energy?

[jersey cubs fan]

Maybe he meant that vets tend to wear down towards the end of the year, and that's the time to call up the youngsters who still have energy?

 

If anything, he's saying that with a lot of off days scheduled in April and May, there's really no reason to rest your starters until June, July and August. Regardless, there's no reason why veterans have to be starters because they are veterans. If anything, the track record of veterans often shows that they really shouldn't be everday guys (Jones, Floyd, DeRosa) in the first place.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The Cubs and I have so much in common. I, too, recall Angel Pagan. Plus I don't score much anymore either.