Pie here to stay; so, likely, are rest of Cubs
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry came out of the box firing Monday.
"Felix Pie is not going anywhere," Hendry told a group of writers in the clubhouse before the evening game against the Phillies at Wrigley Field. "There will be no trade tomorrow for Felix Pie. He's not going anywhere."
In case he wasn't clear, Hendry reiterated that stance later in front of more media on the field.
"Felix Pie is not going anywhere; he's not being talked about," Hendry stressed. "It's really unfair to the young man to have to hear that on television or to read it in the paper that he's being shopped around. It couldn't be farther from the truth. It's not good journalism, to be honest with you."
In other words, the Cubs aren't trading center-field prospect Felix Pie by the time today's 3 p.m. non-waiver deadline passes.
In fact, Hendry all but ruled out a blockbuster trade along the lines of the one that netted shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on July 31, 2004.
"There's nothing that's going to happen in the next half-hour or hour, and there's certainly nothing that's going to blow people away like when we got Nomar," he said.
Of course, the Cubs do have some flaws and holes, and here's a look at a few key areas, with how the Cubs might fix the flaws and fill the holes:
Bullpen
Manager Lou Piniella would like one more power arm, and the hoped-for solution appears to be in-house: Kerry Wood.
Wood, who is almost done with his shoulder rehab, could be activated as early as Thursday's series finale with Philadelphia.
"We get him on the roster and keep him healthy, it's like trading for a good reliever," Piniella said. "We'll see how that goes."
Contrary to some reports, the Cubs never were interested in Texas lefty Ron Mahay, who went to Atlanta on Monday. In fact, the Cubs had no interest in almost any rumored deal with Texas.
Outfield
No, Pie and Jacque Jones are not going to Minnesota for Torii Hunter. The Cubs seem happy with an outfield that has Alfonso Soriano in left, Jones and Angel Pagan in center and a combination of Cliff Floyd, Matt Murton and Mark DeRosa in right.
A recently rumored deal with Baltimore for Jay Payton was stale by the time it hit the shelves.
Bench
The Cubs miss the bat of Daryle Ward, who remains out indefinitely with a strained right calf. It could be late August before Ward returns.
In contrast to former manager Dusty Baker and in some ways counter to conventional baseball wisdom, Piniella doesn't seem to mind a young bench.
"The way our roster's set up now, we're nice and young on the bench, too," he said. "You'll see that we'll start resting this team and rotating it a little bit. It started tonight. We've got Murton in there. Pagan's in there at center field. I'll get (shortstop Ronny) Cedeno in there probably tomorrow or Wednesday. We'll start playing our bench as much as we can and keeping this team very fresh."
Of course, the Cubs are walking the fine line of not wanting to mess up a good thing -- they were 33-17 since June 3 entering Monday -- and failing to add a needed piece to the puzzle.
"That's a tough question," DeRosa said. "Obviously, Jim Hendry's going to do everything in his power to keep us right where we are now and hopefully win a few more ballgames. You don't really worry about it. As players, everyone wants to think like GMs anyway.
"You've got 25 guys in here. We've talked about it. What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses. What do we need? If the moves that are made make us better, obviously, we welcome them. I don't think a move would necessarily need to be made, but I don't make those decisions."
Piniella had a hand in shaping the roster with the trade of catcher Michael Barrett last month. He also doles out the playing time to those he thinks deserve it. And now he seems to like this team and its flexibility.
"We've got good chemistry here, and these kids are grinding, and they're playing hard," he said. "We've got some nice talent. It's a nice combination of things. Jim's not going to tinker just to tinker."