The 'can't miss' kids
Felix Pie will have to overcome a long, sorry line of rookie stars who went nowhere with the Cubs
Deny it all you want, Cubs fans. I'm on to you. You've watched all these young guys play well for the Cubs. Felix Pie, Ryan Theriot and that little Fontenot kid. Rich Hill and Sean Marshall. And they're all the real deal? Come on, now.
It's hard to accept the Cubs having one good player from their minor-league system, much less several. Through the years, can't-miss Cubs have always missed. After a while, they all became the same guy. Brooks Kieschnick is Brant Brown, Ty Griffin is Gary Scott. Mike Harkey is Derrick May.
The Cubs are in a race for the division title, starting a three-game series today against first-place Milwaukee. So it's working out. But I would like proof of something:
Are we sure that Felix Pie isn't Corey Patterson?
Cubs fans are either in denial about that, or deep down, they're wondering, too. Admit it.
He's 22, and can run. He has a great arm, is great at tracking fly balls. But he can't stop swinging at high fastballs, and his batting average is only in the .220s.
Oops, I wasn't too clear there. I was talking about Patterson in 2001.
And Pie today.
You'd like to think that this wouldn't happen again. Patterson was the No. 3 pick in the draft out of high school, and will go down as one of the great flops in Cubs history. Pie is known as a phenom, but his numbers are Patterson-esque.
In talking with Cubs GM Jim Hendry, and with minor-league hitting instructor Dave Keller, one thing is clear: The Cubs don't know why Patterson failed.
''They're two totally different people coming from totally different backgrounds,'' Keller said. ''We're trying to find out why Corey wasn't more successful in Wrigley Field when he had all these expectations.''
This would seem like a good time to jump all over the Cubs. Why don't they know why Patterson failed? And if they don't know with him, then is that why so many Cubs prospects fail?
Well, maybe that's not fair. Maybe Patterson didn't make it because some players simply don't make that last step. Some of it is chance, though the odds should be better on the No. 3 pick.
I think Pie will be better than Patterson. But maybe I'm a sucker for believing.
The Cubs were patient with Pie, signing him at 16 and giving him a full year each at five levels of minor-league ball before calling him up. Meanwhile, they rushed Patterson to the majors far before he was ready. He first played in the system at 19, and was with the Cubs at 21, at the end of his second pro year.
Hendry needed to make a splash, needed to show that his system was producing. And with little time in the minors. Patterson wasn't taught much. On top of that, he wasn't listening, anyway.
Hendry denies all of that stuff about Patterson.
''I would dispute it,'' he said. ''Nobody brought him up early because he was overhyped. And in '03, he was on an All-Star pace into July before he got hurt.''
True enough, Patterson was. Then, he tore a ligament in his left knee and was out for the year.
Hendry was careful not to say anything negative about Patterson. He did say that when Patterson wasn't doing well, he tried to revert to old, bad habits.
But the Cubs didn't help him much. They didn't sign him to be a leadoff hitter, and his long swing wasn't suited for it. Yet in the majors, they tried to put him there, and to shorten his swing. A dramatic change in swing for a developing player? Not good.
''People say we pumped him up too much,'' Hendry said. ''That isn't true. We didn't tell Baseball America to put him on the cover.
''Corey was caught in-between. He was small in structure, but very strong.''
Patterson was 5-9, 180. Pie is 6-2, 160.
And their personalities are entirely different. I visited Patterson in Des Moines when he was sent down, and asked about being booed, about the Cubs' approach to him, about whether he was listening to coaches.
He pondered the questions, answered without flinching at the criticism. Patterson was serious and overly professional.
A few weeks ago in the Cubs clubhouse before a game in Milwaukee, several players were sitting in leather chairs, quietly watching TV. And salsa music was playing somewhere else in the room. Pie stood, smiled and started dancing by himself. Eventually, several other Cubs were doing the same thing.
''Felix's whole attitude toward playing and being successful rubs off on other people,'' Keller said. ''Corey is a quiet person, a pleasure to coach, very quiet, very analytical. Corey seems to be a couple steps ahead of you because he's a thinker.
''Felix has always been very upbeat, very loud. He's a catalyst; he has always made players around him better. With Felix, you can tell he's on the same page with you.''
The problem is, either style can work.
Maybe Pie will hit it big. From one can't-miss to another, to several others this year, you can pretend to be confident if you want. But I'm on to you.