Pierre Pressure Sends Juan To Cubs
[December 7th] -- Jim Bowden said he would not consider trading for Dave Roberts or any other speedy top-of-the-lineup guy until the Marlins traded Juan Pierre somewhere else.
Better start considering, Jimbo.
Mlb.com is reporting that the Marlins have traded Pierre to the Chicago Cubs for pitching prospects Ricky Nolasko and Renyel Pinto. Although the "official" announcement has yet to be made, I'd say that MLB officials wouldn't let that cat out of the bag if it weren't true.
The trade of Pierre to the Cubs may have been a blessing of the higest order for the Nationals, who don't need another player with "holes" taking the field at RFK. Pierre's on base percentage in 2005 was horrible, and it's barely adequate for his career. Defensively, he can get to any ball hit in the gaps. The problem is that once he catches it, he can't the ball back into the infield. His arm is so weak that he could throw the ball towards second base from deep center field, take off running and beat the ball to the infield. He would easily have won the first annual Preston Wilson Award for being the team's most underwhelming player.
Luckily, all of this is now academic.
For the Nationals, the Winter Meetings should be renamed the "Plan B" meetings, because everything the Nats have tried to do has failed, forcing Bowden to go to "plan B." Although he said Tuesday that he considered Padres' outfielder Dave Roberts as no more than a 4th outfielder, the Padres' outfielder may be Bowden's only [sane] option in trying to find a leadoff hitter. We'll see.
In other news, it looks like Joey Eischen might be returning to the Nationals. Not trying to be ungreatful, but I'd guess that no one else wanted him. That's just the way things are going right now.
