Cubs trade outfielder Pie to Orioles for two pitchers

@Plain Text:Another highly touted center fielder, another trade to Baltimore.

Sunday the Cubs traded onetime center-field phenom Felix Pie to the Baltimore Orioles for left-handed pitcher Garrett Olson and minor-league right-hander Henry Williamson.

The story line is a familiar one. Back in January 2006, the Cubs traded another center fielder, Corey Patterson, to the Orioles when they realized it wasn't going to happen for Patterson in Chicago.

Pie played in only 130 games with the Cubs since first coming up in 2007, but with a glut of outfielders that includes Milton Bradley, Reed Johnson, Kosuke Fukudome and Joey Gathright, the Cubs ran out of room for Pie as much as they ran out of patience.

"Felix has a lot of good qualities," said Cubs general manager Jim Hendry. "At his age, even if he was the fifth outfielder, it's hard to paint a scenario where he would have gotten enough at-bats to really kind of finish off his development. Once Gathright came, it was going to make it awfully tough. I felt like we had a chance to add some pitching here. You can't have enough people in the mix."

The Cubs also can't have enough pitchers in the mix, for themselves or possibly to trade to the San Diego Padres for right-handed pitcher Jake Peavy, whom Hendry has tried to acquire this off-season.

Last month, the Cubs traded infielder-outfielder Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three minor-league pitchers, and at that time, speculation was rife that the trade was a precursor to a Peavy deal. Padres GM Kevin Towers reportedly likes Olson, 25, who has only four professional seasons under his belt. Last year with the Orioles, Olson was 9-10 with a 6.65 ERA in 26 starts. He had a high WHIP (walks plus hits per 1 inning pitched) of 1.73.

The Cubs see him as a possible swingman, in much the same way as they see lefty Sean Marshall, whose name has come up the last two years in trade talks.

"The left-hander is an interesting guy," Hendry said of Olson. "He was a little quick to the big leagues last year in their situation. If he was here, probably would have been in Iowa. He can do some of the things like Marshall does. He can be a swing guy. Our scouts, a lot of them, think he could be better served in that kind of role."

Olson was the 48th overall pick by the Orioles in the 2005 draft. Williamson, a 6-foot-5, 233-pounder, was 0-1 with three saves and a 3.72 ERA in a pair of Class A-ball stops last year. The Cubs say he throws hard.

Pie signed with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2001 and was last year's opening-day center fielder before falling out of favor with manager Lou Piniella and winding up at Class AAA Iowa.

The 23-year-old Pie batted .241 with 1 homer and 10 RBI for the Cubs last year in 43 games. His on-base percentage was a low .312. The Cubs sent him to Iowa on May 14, and they eventually assigned a minor-league instructor to him to help him shorten his swing.

After Pie's 2006 season at Iowa, Baseball America named him the Cubs' best prospect.

Hendry said he felt the Cubs gave Pie enough of a chance. This spring, he would have gone to Arizona out of minor-league options.

"It's one of those where if he went out there 140 games, I would have to think he's a good enough athlete (that) he would have hit better," Hendry said. "But it's hard to paint a scenario where he's going to take at-bats away from Milton Bradley, Reed Johnson or Fukudome.

"It's just one of those things. It's part of the game. You've only got a certain amount of years once you go on the 40-man (roster). The clock starts ticking. Obviously, if he had an option left, we probably wouldn't be moving him."