MVN: Most Valuable Network

According to Jeff Zrebiec and Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun, (I bet poor Peter got razzed in junior high for that last name) the Baltimore Orioles may be the third team that San Diego Padres' GM Kevin Towers needed in order to ship Jake Peavy to the Chicago Cubs.

Towers is looking for young pitchers and hitters in return for Peavy and while the Cubs can offer third base prospect Josh Vitters, they don't have the pitching needed to make the deal on their own.

Enter the Orioles, who last year almost matched up with the Cubs on a deal involving second baseman Brian Roberts heading to Chicago for, amongst other things, centerfielder Felix Pie. Club president Andy McPhail acknowledged that the Orioles are looking at Pie as a way to bolster their depth in outfield.

Pie, 23, supposed to be the future long-term centerfielder for the Cubs, has struggled these last two years in opportunities in the bigs. In his major league career, he has totaled 260 at-bats with a line of .223/.284/.331. Pretty rough, but in Triple-A Iowa in 2008, he logged 335 at-bats and hit .287/.336/.466. He had a much better year in Iowa the year before, slugging .362/.410/.563 in 229 at-bats, so the potential is there.

Pie could be installed as the full-time left-fielder in Baltimore, with Luke Scott shifting to DH and Aubrey Huff getting his reps in at first. This would afford the Orioles an opportunity to plug an additional hole with a high-impact player and focus on their shortstop and starting pitching holes through free agency.

The main piece that would be needed to get Pie is left-handed starter Garrett Olson, who I saw play at Camden Yards this summer.

Olson, 25, has a career 6.87 ERA for the Orioles in 165 innings (33 starts). In the minors, he holds a career 2.95 ERA in 384.1 innings. Olson, a Southern California native, is said to be coveted by Towers and would certainly benefit from Petco Park.

Is this a move the Orioles should make? For all their pitching troubles, is Pie worth moving Olson and strengthening the Cubs by allowing them to land Peavy?

I say yes. The famous adage goes something like this: "There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect" (TINSTAAPP), coined largely because pitchers are very unpredictable in virtually every aspect of the game -- effectiveness, injury, etc... just look at Clay Buchholz compared from 2007 to 2008.

Pie would give one of the league's best offensive teams another weapon to contend with. More importantly, he would be yet another young, high-ceiling player for the Orioles to build around. Olson is not that type of centerpiece.

Whether or not the Orioles get to sign A.J. Burnett or Mark Teixeira (which would likely push Pie into a platoon role, unless they were to deal Huff) should be irrelevant to this deal. The Orioles should focus on adding the young, high-impact players that they will need if they plan on competing in the ultra-tough division of the American League East.