Minor matters: Pie and Randy Wells coming
Posted by Bruce on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 14:51
Watch for the Cubs to announce later today that they've recalled center fielder Felix Pie and purchased the contract of pitcher Randy Wells from Iowa. They'll both be here for tonight's game. It looks like the Cubs will place pitcher Jon Lieber on the 60-day DL to make room for Wells on the 40-man roster.
Wells went to the Blue Jays in last December's Rule 5 draft and was returned to the Cubs early this season. He was named Iowa's pitcher of the year.
More blogging later.
For those who don't know, Wells started out as a catcher in the Cubs system before converting to the mound. He doesn't have Marmol's arm or athleticism, but he was a more experienced catcher than Carlos and hence probably started out understanding more about how to pitch. You never know what you're getting with inexperienced pitchers, but I think he's definitely worth a shot.
Randy played his college ball in Illinois. He was drafted by the Mets very late in 2001 but didn't sign. He signed with the Cubs when they picked him in a low round of the 2002 draft. Clearly, he has solid standards.
I pretty much thought Wells had missed his shot this year when he wasn't called up in the first wave. He must have been feeling snake bit: he made the Blue Jays out of spring training, pitched effectively in *very* limited action in April (1 scoreless inning the first week, I think), and still ended up back in Triple A with the Cubs when Toronto ran into a roster crunch. Then he had a pretty good season for Iowa but had to watch Samardzija blow past him. It must have hurt not to get called up September 1.
A downer end to Jon Lieber's Cubs career, I must say.
Good to see Pie come back up. Wow, let's think about that for a second: Cubs ship off a pitcher, get him back, then he has a really good year at Iowa. So when did Karma start to work IN the Cubs favor and not against, and why wasn't I notified?
On a downer note, it's beginning to sound like Liebs may have reached the end of the road (playing career-wise).
We'll have to wait until we talk to Lou _ he should be over Sunday's loss by now _ to see what they have in store for Pie. The way Edmonds has played, I'd throw Pie in center for the heck of it and see what happens.
I hope Lou took the charter and didn't drive to St. Louis, or he may be in an even worse mood.
What about Reed Johnson back in center for a while?
I could see that, too. I was thinking maybe they run Felix out there and see if they can catch lightning. You could have Pie in center and Hoffpauir in right.
Wow, the scenario you mentioned really does demonstrate the Cubs are pretty deep. I remember the Kosuke pirouette you wrote about and thought the same thing; Lou can't be too happy with that. It will be interesting to see how that situation plays out in the (assuming they make it) playoffs.