Sammy Sofa

No; Pie needs regular playing time. He's not going to improve by sitting on the bench or going back to AAA. I would never prefer helping a player over helping a team. If the Cubs win with Reed, they should go with Reed. At least until a change is needed. This is a meaningless statement. It's like saying, "if the Cubs are winning with yellow shoelaces, they should keep wearing yellow shoelaces." Just because they've won some games WITH Johnson in the lineup in no way means they've won BECAUSE of him, and they haven't, and that argument shouldn't be used to yet again bench Pie when he should be playing as much as possible.[/quote I think you are overstating your case here. In spite of the small sample size, it can be argued that Johnson has contributed significantly to the CUBS' offense, while Pie's contribution has been marginal, at best. 03/31 - 04/07 AB R H 2b 3b HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP P/PA BDI LOB RBI% Johnson 13 2 4 1 0 0 2 2 1 .308 .400 .385 .785 .333 4.07 2 3 .400 Pie 16 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 .188 .235 .188 .423 .250 3.82 0 11 .000 With Pie starting in center field the CUBS are 1-3, scoring 3.50 runs per game. With Johnson, they are 3-0 and scoring 7.33 R/G. Nobody is going to claim that Johnson is worth the extra 3.83 runs per game over Pie, but the fact remains that Johnson has scored 2 runs and driven in 2 more (out of 5 RBI opportunities), while Pie hasn't scored a run and is 0-11 in rbi opportunities. If it were up to me..... I just might use the yellow laces for another game or two. Nobody is arguing that Johnson can't contribute, but the arguments to give him more starts end up too close to saying they're winning because of his contributions, as if having Pie in there would have guarenteed them losing. It all ends up being the big picture...do they give Johnson and his known ceiling more starts or do they deal with the growing pains of someone who could possibly be the productive (or better) CF starter for this team ideally for the next decade+? Sitting Pie more is just going to prolong that process or ultimately kill his chances of ever succeeding. It's easy to make excuses to not do it, but at some point he needs to just play as much as possible or they might as well just trade him while he still has value.

I just think it's especially dumb when you have situations like yesterday's where the thinking is clearly "OMG, IT'S A LEFTY BATTER, THEREFORE ME MUST SUMMON THE MYTHICAL LEFTHANDED PITCHER AND NOBODY ELSE LEST WE BE DEVOURED BY THE BASEBALL GODS."

absolutely not here -- Pie already has enough motivation to succeed, he should be given the chance I don't think starting Johnson for a spell is going to take the chance to start away from Pie. He may need a little breather from time to time. Especially if he is being overmatched. A little break may do a player like him good. But you already created a self-defeating scenario that strips Pie of playing time. You say you want him to get his time, but then you say Johnson should play if he's outproducing him. Well, Pie's clearly going to be ice cold for some long stretches while he learns the ropes...it's not going to be difficult for Johnson to outproduce Pie when he comes in against lefties. So that just sits Pie, which prolongs him taking his lumps even further, which means he's even more likely to suck when he does get a chance to play, which just gets Johnson more starts. Play Pie against every RHer unless he's hurt, period.

Exactly. It's just people making excuses to further put off the time that Pie will need to struggle and learn and see if he can stick around. He's gonna need that time at some point...we can't just wait for a time when the Cubs are going to be in a "better" position to do so, because knowing the Cubs, that time will never be around.

This is a meaningless statement. It's like saying, "if the Cubs are winning with yellow shoelaces, they should keep wearing yellow shoelaces." Just because they've won some games WITH Johnson in the lineup in no way means they've won BECAUSE of him, and they haven't, and that argument shouldn't be used to yet again bench Pie when he should be playing as much as possible. What the hell are you talking about? If a guy is producing (Johnson), why should a guy who is not producing (Pie) play? I play the hot hand. Pie will get his AB's and on the job training. Becase Johnson is a journeyman player who isn't ideally the CFer of this team for the forseeable future. Johnson contributes nothing in that #2 hole that at least a couple other people in the lineup can't do, and he should get no extra playing time unless Pie is hurt, which is supposedly the case over the last few days (and that one starting lefty was faced). It's ridiculous that the young player who needs playing time as much as possible to see if he can develop should be sat for a decent bench player. Reed Johnson isn't going to be enough of a difference maker that he should take away any extra playing time from Pie. For now, fine, Pie took the ball off of his hand...but I won't be surprised at all if more excuses crop up down the line to give Pie's time to Johnson. You can't wait for some possibly mythical time when the Cubs are "comfortable" to let Pie play...otherwise you're just prolonging whether or not he can make the necessary adjustments and stunting his development even further. For better or for worse, this is the team that's out there that Pie needs to be let start with as much as possible. He has zero left to prove in the minors or on the bench, and he needs to be given the time ASAP to see if he can make the leap to being a fulltime MLB player. There's zero argument that justifies giving prolonged starts to an ultimately average ballplayer like Johnson unless someone is hurt. None.

I don't usually do this, but: :roll: 1) I never said he should be benched; 2) Comparing him to Aramis and Fukudome is stupid. Roll your eyes all you want. I didn't directly compare him to either player...simply pointing out that "something might need to be done" (and what that possibly means besides playing him less, I have no idea) about a productive and generally reliable player having a couple of unfortunately costly errors this early in the season is pretty much an exercise in futility. Then it looks like you missed the point of my post. If he becomes a butcher at 2B what do we do? I dunno, I am just asking. And do me a favor, if you don't agree with something I post or have a contrary opinion, just respond as such. Save your sacrcasm for someone else. Why can't I be sarcastic? It's not like it's a complex question. If he becomes a defensive wreck, the Cubs have to replace him. If it's just straight answers, the thread was over before it started. Oh I get it, sarcasm is necessary for every thread that you deem unworthy. Forgive me for trying to start a conversation - there are plenty of threads that get started and go nowhere. If you feel this should be one of them, then simply ignore it. I think his defensive struggles thus far this year are interesting insomuch as they were not expected. Moreover, if he does become a wreck, it puts us in a very strange spot since he is a productive hitter. It's not a strange spot. If his "butchery" over the sample size of the first week was extended to the full season, he'd have to sit, period. He's obviously not nearly a good enough hitter to offset that many costly errors...but then again, the odds of him maintaining such an error streak are incredibly slim. There's not really much room for a lot of "discourse."

Between this and DeRosa, your psychological evaluations of professional baseball players is questionable at best.

a better player for about $2.5M less? Actualy, it's just another reason to hate Izturius...he's so bad, he makes another bad player, Theriot, look much better in comparison, so Izturius tricked Lou and Hendry into thinking that SS was fine once he was dumped.

No; Pie needs regular playing time. He's not going to improve by sitting on the bench or going back to AAA. I would never prefer helping a player over helping a team. If the Cubs win with Reed, they should go with Reed. At least until a change is needed. This is a meaningless statement. It's like saying, "if the Cubs are winning with yellow shoelaces, they should keep wearing yellow shoelaces." Just because they've won some games WITH Johnson in the lineup in no way means they've won BECAUSE of him, and they haven't, and that argument shouldn't be used to yet again bench Pie when he should be playing as much as possible.

Why would it? It's not like patient hitters are some kind of rare thing he's never been around.

Don't be ridiculous. Don't be completely detached from reality and act like that's the type of results he usually has or ends up with. Talking like him starting cold over the first week of the season is indicative of his regular performance is just asinine. You may not like his approach, but he does get impressive results when he's on.

Your posts never fail to be ridiculous. Maybe it wasnt phrased right. It cant be worse than the production we've gotten out of our leadoff hitters so far. It's still pointless, because you know how Soriano is likely going to end up.

I don't usually do this, but: :roll: 1) I never said he should be benched; 2) Comparing him to Aramis and Fukudome is stupid. Roll your eyes all you want. I didn't directly compare him to either player...simply pointing out that "something might need to be done" (and what that possibly means besides playing him less, I have no idea) about a productive and generally reliable player having a couple of unfortunately costly errors this early in the season is pretty much an exercise in futility. Then it looks like you missed the point of my post. If he becomes a butcher at 2B what do we do? I dunno, I am just asking. And do me a favor, if you don't agree with something I post or have a contrary opinion, just respond as such. Save your sacrcasm for someone else. Why can't I be sarcastic? It's not like it's a complex question. If he becomes a defensive wreck, the Cubs have to replace him. If it's just straight answers, the thread was over before it started.

Your posts never fail to be ridiculous.

I don't usually do this, but: :roll: 1) I never said he should be benched; 2) Comparing him to Aramis and Fukudome is stupid. Roll your eyes all you want. I didn't directly compare him to either player...simply pointing out that "something might need to be done" (and what that possibly means besides playing him less, I have no idea) about a productive and generally reliable player having a couple of unfortunately costly errors this early in the season is pretty much an exercise in futility.

HIDEOUS. Everyone, umps included, should be ashamed.

DAMN HIM AND HIS 6-GAME HITTING STREAK.

Guys, this was actually planned to make up for the lost broadcast time when the feed went out. The Cubs aren't this embarassing.

YEAH, HE NEVER DOES THAT!!!!1!!1!!11

How do the Cubs get their outs that inning with a man in scoring position the entire time? Soriano - k Lee - k Aramis - k Awesome.

Jeez.

This game is heeeeeeeeeeeeedious.

God, what a miracle.

Done and done.

The umps have been blinded by all the grittiness flying in the air.