Manager Dusty Baker was asked how he viewed the assessment from some outside observers that Cubs center fielder Corey Patterson simply isn't an instinctive baseball player with the natural ability to know what to do in a game that calls for split-second decision-making. ''I can't say that,'' Baker said. ''They are always going to say something. He needs improvement. That's one of the things I wanted him to work on going down [to Class AAA Iowa]. It wasn't just hitting. ''He needed an overhaul of his whole game. It was baserunning. It was getting jumps on balls [on defense]. These are things we wanted him to go down and work on.'' Patterson is likely to have trade value this offseason, and general manager Jim Hendry will have to look at what he can get for moving him out of town. But if other GMs try to low-ball Hendry and give him scraps in return, which also is probable, Hendry will have to gamble that Patterson still can mature as a player in a Cubs uniform and meet his considerable potential. But Patterson is 26. As the third player selected in the 1998 amateur draft, time is running out on him as someone who still has a future. Unless he progresses rapidly in the next two years, he will fall into the ranks of likely-won't-happen.