Time To End Pie Experiment

When I first heard that the Baltimore Orioles had traded for one time top prospect Felix Pie from Chicago, I was immediately excited at the prospect of Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Pie growing together and becoming one of the top young outfields in the game.

Everything that I had heard about Pie had been positive, and he was labeled a "5-tool player" by most scouts. Many pundits praised the Orioles and their desire to give Pie consistent Major League at-bats during their "rebuilding year" (just like the last 11), while the Cubs are contenders now and had neither the time nor patience to deal with Pie's inability to adjust to Major League pitching in his 297 at bats.

Here we are now in on April 23, and I have had the pleasure, if you want to call it that, of watching Pie play for 14 games with the Orioles. In that span, he has just 5 hits in 37 at-bats, and has struck out 11 times.

Orioles announcer Jim Palmer made a comment of how happy Red Sox lefty Jon Lester must have been when Adam Jones came out on Sunday, as now got to face an inexperienced guy with no ability to hit left handed pitching.

Sure enough, Pie went 0-for-3 and left four runners on base. While hitting a pitcher the caliber of Lester is a challenge for any hitter, Pie never looked close, and he hasn't against any lefties. What is more disturbing is that Pie's five hits came in two games (a two hit performance against the Yankees, and a three hit game against the Rangers). That means he has gone hit less in 12 of his 14 games. 

While Pie is not the only Orioles youngster to start slowly, but when Adam Jones was learning the ropes lat year, he was still giving his team help with his glove and arm. Pie has looked tentative on balls almost afraid to make a mistake.

He also badly misjudged a ball in Boston that hit the base of the Green Monster and allowed David Ortiz of all people to get a triple. His arm has looked suspect as well, as it has been inaccurate at times, and in a couple instances it looks as though he was trying to give infielders ground ball practice while trying to throw out base runners.

His defense is the reason so many Orioles fans are losing patience, as he is not helping the team in any aspect of the game.

What makes the Pie situation more troubling is the success Nolan Reimold's success at Norfolk. Now, Lou Montanez is up at the big club, and it is good to see him given another shot.

It is also more satisfying for O's fans to watch home grown talent such as Montanez and Reimold than guys who couldn't make it at other clubs. The Orioles gave the fans a sense of their promising pitching future by calling up Bergesen, and it is now time to do the same with position players, after all, Reimold couldn't possibly be worse than Pie, could he?