Cubs roll dice on Edmonds
Center fielder Jim Edmonds took and passed his physical at Wrigley Field Wednesday night.
With that, Edmonds and the Cubs agreed to a one-year deal worth about $285,000.
General manager Jim Hendry is taking a flyer on the 38-year-old Edmonds, who will share time in center with Reed Johnson.
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Edmonds will be activated for this afternoon's game against the Padres. He also will supplant Felix Pie, who was optioned to Class AAA Iowa.
"If it wasn't something we thought could possibly help us, we wouldn't have looked into it," Hendry said.
Even though Edmonds' and Pie's numbers are virtually the same this year, Hendry said the demotion is not a negative reflection on Pie. The plan for Pie will be for minor-league hitting coach Dave Keller to continue working full time with him at Iowa on things manager Lou Piniella and hitting coach Gerald Perry began.
"Obviously, we're not down on Felix," Hendry said. "He's a tremendous defender. He's got a lot of athletic ability. And we've all seen signs of how he can play. It's situation now where Reed's getting about two-thirds to three-quarters of the time.
"At age 23, with the things that Lou and Gerald implemented a few weeks ago, with a little bit different approach and a little different swing, it's virtually impossible to try make some of those adjustments on a consistent basis when you're getting maybe 5 to 8 at-bats a week. It really is the right thing to do.
"It's a good gamble at the time. None of us really see the negatives."
As for Edmonds, the Cubs seem to like his "veteran presence." They also seem to think he's got enough baseball ability left to help them get to the postseason.
"I think, just in general, most people feel that he's still got something left in the tank," Hendry said. "I think he's going to be a motivated player. Obviously, we're not going to ask him to go out there every single day. The people we had watching him, just in their normal coverage -- we weren't scouting him -- felt that he was getting better before he was sent out."
The Padres released Edmonds last Friday after he hit .178 in 26 games with 1 homer, 6 RBI, an on-base percentage of .265 and a slugging percentage of .233. Pie batted .222 in 30 games with 1 homer, 7 RBI and .286 on-base and slugging percentages.
"Hopefully he'll be able to give us at least a great portion of the Jim Edmonds we all knew and used to fear, in a lot of ways," Hendry said. "He used to play very well against and played well in this park."
Lifetime, Edmonds has 363 home runs and an OBP of .377.
He came up with the Angels in 1993 before being traded to the Cardinals before the 2000 season.
He is an eight-time Gold Glove winner who has played a shallow center field. A calf injury sidelined him in spring training this year with San Diego. Last year with the Cardinals, he batted .252 with 12 homers, 53 RBI and an OBP of .325.
Piniella also touted Edmonds' veteran status.
"He's got experience," Piniella said. "He's played in big situations. I think here at Wrigley Field with the crowd and so forth and the fact that this club can win, I think those are all positives for bringing in a veteran player."