Orioles Explore Deals for Pie, Salazar

For the love of God, Kenny, please stop with the never has and never will be's. (Norris Hopper, Tony Pena, Dewayne Wise, Jimmy Gobble, Need I go on??)

@SuzysMan, it would be funny if he became a stud once he joins the sox....lol.

Pie's overall numbers are so-so but it's moreso to do with his inconsistent playing time. If you look at his gamelogs, he's actually been getting hits pretty consistently.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=6475

Since the Os have 3 good young OFs seizing their spots, Pie is the odd man out. That competition has caused Pie to make a notable change in the way he conducts ABs. The biggest difference most fans will see is that he's stopped swinging out of his shoes for HRs, and, he's become more patient. I think what has weighed heavily on Pie's change is that each of the Orioles young OFers' games are based on having patient ABs. You rarely see Markakis, Jones, and Reimold swinging at balls and they're usually grinding out long tough ABs, fouling off a bunch of pitches. Suddenly for the last month and a half, when Pie is in there, hes doing the same, and he's getting onbase and driving the ball pretty consistently.

Pie will not get the chance in Baltimore that he needs in order to establish himself as a major league player. As basemonkey pointed out, he has gotten better in his approach to hitting. He has drawn Corey Patterson comparions for being a person whose tools indicate singles and line drives but insisted on trying to hit homers. This has changed and he has become the opposite field, line drive hitter he should have been.

His problem now is that the Orioles have the best young outfield in baseball in Markakis, Jones, and Reimold (who will probably finish 3rd in the ROY voting), and all he will ever do is be a 5th OF with us (Luke Scott plays OF some too). I don't know if he'll get that shot in Chicago, either. He's a heck of a nice guy, major trooper. Put up with loads of naysayers in Baltimore who hated him before he ever put on the uniform. I wish that he had hit .280 in April, shut everyone up, and been playing every day, but that's water under the bridge now.

What has happened to Fields? A quick look at his minor and major league stats makes me think he was very good until he got to the majors in 2007, then decided that he had to be a HR hitter in order to stick, and lost his plate discipline. His walk rate dropped, his average dropped, his strikeout rate increased. Oh, and he looks like a terrible 3B defensively, based on FanGraphs data.