Felix Pie

Perhaps the only interesting story at this point in spring training is how Dave Trembley plans to find at-bats for all four of his talented outfielders. We know that Nick Markakis and Adam Jones will play everyday, while Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie will concoct some sort of time share in left field. While Reimold is limited to left field, Pie is capable of playing all three outfield positions. Assuming the club goes with Reimold as the starting left fielder on Opening Day, how can Pie get enough at-bats?

1) Pie can spell both Reimold and Jones, each of whom has battled injuries in the past and has yet to prove he can make it healthily through a full MLB season.
2) Reimold can play a bit of first base or designated hitter, making room for the superior defensive player (Pie) in the outfield on occasion.
3) Reimold bats righty, and Pie lefty. Some straight platooning is likely to be in order.
4) Pie could also DH, sending Luke Scott to the bench.

Basically, it is important to keep in mind that over the course of a 162-game season, it should not be difficult for three players to find at-bats at two positions (Pie, Reimold and Scott at LF and DH), especially when one of those players (Pie) can easily spell Jones from time to time. Injuries happen. Left-handed pitchers happen. Days off happen. The at-bats will be there.

We also need to remember that Luke Scott, who turns 32 in June, is not nearly as big a part of the Orioles future as Pie, who just turned 25. Scott is a good hitter: in three seasons of full-time play, he's posted a .257/.342/.486 line with 66 home runs, good enough for a 114 OPS+. Unfortunately, he's on the wrong side of the aging curve, and he is about to get very expensive. As a second-year arbitration eligible player this year, he agreed to a $4.05 million deal for 2010. During his three full seasons, Scott has been worth 2.3, 2.2, and 1.5 wins above replacement. With free agent wins going for about $3.5 million the open market this off-season, Scott is a good deal at $4 million. At $6 million, he's very close to being fairly paid, and at $7 or $8 million he's probably overpaid, especially at age 33 or 34. I can't see Scott sticking around Baltimore much past 2010 or 2011, and since the 2010 O's are still in building mode, Pie's development shouldn't be hindered in order to get Luke Scott a few more at-bats.

In conclusion, there are plenty of at-bats to go around. No sense worrying over how they'll be distributed today.
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Felix Pie

Some good news today:

Speaking of Pie, there are several members of the organization that are very
much against trading the talented but raw outfielder. I’m not saying he won’t be
traded because there are enough teams interested and the Orioles are deep in the
outfield, but I am saying that the Orioles are going to have to get something
enticing back to deal him. Pie’s strong second half has earned him some
believers in the organization, and probably justified the team’s decision not to
trade him to the Chicago White Sox last year for third baseman Josh Fields.

These are my sentiments about Felix Pie exactly. He's always been talented, and he really did show signs of putting it all together last year. Yes, he is currently 4th on the outfield depth chart, but I see no reason that the Orioles can't get both Pie and Reimold regular at-bats. And it never hurts to have a capable back-up centerfielder on the roster. If the club does decide to deal Pie, it would have to be in a deal that brings back a significant piece.
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A Slice of Pie

Felix Pie, that is. News broke this afternoon that the Orioles and Cubs have agreed to a deal that will send Garrett Olson and minor-leaguer Henry Williamson to the Cubs and Felix Pie to Baltimore. Pie has long been a Cubs top-prospect--and subject of Orioles/Cubs trade rumors--but he could never seem to force his way into the lineup on an everyday basis for Chicago as it contended in the NL Central. Olson has been a frustrating pitcher the past two seasons, succeeding on the basis of command, and certainly not raw stuff, in the minors but never having much success in Baltimore. A change of scenery could do him well, especially since it gets him out of the AL East and into the weaker National League.

The addition of the lefthanded hitting Pie, while on the surface a bit curious, is exactly the type of move the Orioles should be making. Sure, the Orioles are set in center and right field and had Luke Scott and maybe even Nolan Reimold to play left, but for a rebuilding team like the Orioles, you choose young talent over old stopgaps at every opportunity. What can a full season of playing time do for Pie's development? Let's hope it turns out similarly to the Adam Jones experiment from 2008.

Speaking of Adam Jones, an outfield of Pie, Jones and Nick Markakis, plus a middle infield of Brian Roberts and Cesar Izturis, should tremendously help the development of the pitching staff. Run prevention comes in two flavors, pitching and defense, and while the Orioles may not have much of the former, they should do very well with the latter. Depending on how prospects like Radhames Liz, Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, David Hernandez, Jake Arrieta, et al. develop, the first half of that equation could look very different come September.

So what are the Orioles looking at in terms of a lineup for 2009?

2B - Brian Roberts (S)
3B - Melvin Mora (R)
RF - Nick Markakis (L)
1B - Aubrey Huff (L)
CA - Matt Wieters (S)
DH - Luke Scott (L)
CF - Adam Jones (R)
LF - Felix Pie (L)
SS - Cesar Izturis (S)

Bench - Ryan Freel, Greg Zaun, Chris Gomez

Others: Nolan Reimold, Lou Montanez, Oscar Salazar, Scott Moore

That lineup definitely tilts to the left; if the Orioles were closer to contention, they would ideally find a right-handed hitting first baseman, shift Huff to designated hitter and Scott to a back-up role. I suspect that Nolan Reimold will be donning a first baseman's mitt quite a bit this spring.

Still, MacPhail has done an admirable job building this team for 2009 as it waits for young pitching to develop for the future. The lineup above, especially if Reimold earns a slot, has a nice mix of long-term solutions (Markakis, Wieters, Jones, Pie) and veteran fill-ins (Roberts, Mora, Scott, Huff, Izturis), plus it should play very good defense. With Roberts, Mora and Huff, all up for free agency after 2009, there are still lots of holes to fill for the long-term, but this does appear to be a team headed in the right direction.