The Chicago Cubs announced today that they have finalized a trade to send former phenom Felix Pie to the Baltimore Orioles for two pitchers, Garrett Olson and Hank Williamson. This is an obvious move more geared towards roster flexibility and stockpiling arms moreso than trading for players who will immediately impact the 25 man roster.
To go along with Pie, you will likely see Rich Hill and Ronny Cedeno, who are also out of options, likely to be traded in the near future. Once Cedeno is traded, then you’ll see the Cubs sign Rich Aurilia to be that clubhouse leader and provide more pop from the powerless bench as well as someone who can play 1B and 3B. Even with Aurilia, the Cubs’ bench will be sub-par, and given the recent injury history of both Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley, it could be stretched thin. Luckily, it seems that the leg problems that plagued Aramis Ramirez early in his career (likely from lack of conditioning) have gone away as Ramirez looks to be more dedicated in the weight room compared to 5 years ago.
Scouting Reports
Hank Williamson:
RHP So. R-R 6-5 205 San Jacinto JC Houston (Lamar
Williamson attended Rice as a freshman and did not pitch, but got everyone’s attention with a solid mid-90s fastball during fall practice after he transferred to San Jac. He became the ace on a talent-laden Gators pitching staff, going 7-3, 2.68 with 68 strikeouts in 89 innings. He’s been more steady at 89-93 mph this spring. His secondary pitches are a split-finger, which shows quality life at times, and a developing slider. Scouts still consider Williamson projectable and a work-in-progress, and would like to see a better breaking ball. He’s signed to go to Lamar next year, where he could blossom.
Garrett Olson:
3 pitches:
88-91FB
78-81SL
80-83CH
http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/olsonga01.shtml (major league numbers)
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=25645 (minor league numbers
As you can see, he appears to be a little gun shy when pitching in the majors, which plagued him at times in the minors. He was trying to pitch perfectly rather than allowing the hitter to get himself which led to the high BB totals in the majors. His slider is probably his best pitch but his FB doesn’t have the command, movement, or velocity to improve his slider and more importantly the 3rd pitch he’ll need (change-up).
Despite good numbers in the minors as well as two average pitches with his FB and slider, I don’t see him making it on the Cubs as a starter. Olson will likely play the role of Marshall last year as the swing/long-relief reliever or hopefully be part of the Peavy trade. Honestly, I don’t see why the trade for Peavy would possibly sway on whether or not Olson is included in the trade as he appears to be a marginal player especially compared to potential stars like Vitters.
Hank Williamson looks to be a minor league reliever throughout his pro career given an inconsistent splitter and no real breaking ball. However, he did put up better numbers than his ERA would indicate likely caused by relievers coming in after him who are minor league fillers and gave up the inherited runs.
Back to Felix Pie. I drool over the tools he possess, especially defensively with outstanding range and a plus arm both in accuracy and strength. He just wasn’t showing enough progress with the bat to merit putting him on the roster even over a marginal player like Joey Gathright. Gathright is more likely to come up with an occasional pinch-hit and play similar defensively as a defensive replacement without further stunting Pie’s growth by rotting on the bench.
Plus, there appeared to be some issues with Pie and Piniella as far as Pie’s work ethic or dedication to the game. Pie has too long of a swing for someone with average bat speed, marginal to average power, and an inability to hit even an average breaking ball from both LH’ers and RH’ers. The hole on his inner half as well as the poor strike zone judgment always put him two strike counts that someone with his abilities at the plate can’t hit out of as much as he was in that count.
There are already rumors in Baltimore of putting Pie in LF, Adam Jones in CF, and Nick Markakis in RF, which would likely compete with Cleveland as the defensive OF in baseball, but I don’t think Pie can hit well enough for a starting CF’er or a 4th OF’er at this stage, let alone a starting LF’er.
