Looking at Lou

In preparation for the Cubs' three-game series beginning tonight in Seattle, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times interviewed former M's manager Lou Piniella over the weekend. The use of the word "weary" in the headline gives you a pretty good idea of the portrait which Stone paints. I thought this passage stood out.

I reminded Piniella of a quote he gave me back in 2007, when the Mariners played at Wrigley during his first season. Noting the difficulty of the Cubs' challenge, he said, "It ain't going to drive me crazy. I want to get it done, but it's not going to drive me crazy." That's still his story, and he's sticking to it. "Our organization hasn't won in a long time," Piniella said. "Because of that, there's a lot more scrutiny here. And because of it, it makes managing probably tougher than it should be."

What struck me about that quote was how perfectly it captures the difference between being the Cubs manager and being a Cubs fan. As manager, your inclination is to say, "I don't care about the 102 years or the goat or Steve Bartman. None of that happened on my watch. We're going to look forward and not dwell on all the misery." As a Cub fan, at least a devoted one, you have no choice. If you're in for the fun, you have to bear the pain, all 100-plus years of it.

Yes, Lou, it does drive us crazy. And there's nothing we can do about it except hope for the pain to end. 

Finally, here was another piece I came across from the Seattle Times, written in 2002 right after Piniella was granted his release by the Mariners, after ten mostly very successful seasons. This story, written by Bob Finnegan, paints the manager in an extraordinarily positive light, as the chief shaper of what was, and what remains, the brightest time in the history of the Seattle Mariners.

Tags: 
Lou Piniella
Submitted by Cubnut on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 11:36am
Return to Homepage

Comments

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 12:14pm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-0...

Baseball sources tell us that Cubs GM Jim Hendry has been very aggressive trying to move Kosuke Fukudome to ease the logjam in his crowded outfield. In fact, we hear that Hendry even offered to eat most of the money left on this year's salary and half of the $14 million that he is owed in 2011.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 12:18pm

Joke about eating

Submitted by jacos
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 12:29pm

another over paid manager not expecting the pressure .

So it will be upto ryno or brenley to answer the siren's call.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 12:45pm

Wasn't Pinhead actually traded to the D-Rays for Randy Winn?

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 12:57pm

yes, when he wanted out of that job he was bored with to go back to TB...where he quit that job a year early.

..also TB got antonio perez in that trade

Submitted by The Joe
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 1:03pm

On a lighter side, this made me laugh:

"Orioles acquired 1B Jake Fox from the Athletics for RHP Ross Wolf.
Fox was designated for assignment by the A's last week after posting a dreadful .214/.264/.327 batting line over his first 98 at-bats. He's shown flashes of power in the past and the O's like his versatility..."

This is via rotoworld's player update feed, so I haven't got a link.

Submitted by Jace
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:20pm

Good grief... McFail is just BLATANTLY going by the Cubs c. 2005 Top Prospect list..... He's not even trying to hide it any more...

Submitted by Ryno
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:42pm

Haha...

And yeah, nothing says versatility like Jake Fox.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:50pm

3 months ago it was just fine when beane was saying it.

hell, he was even pushing playing him at C. yeesh.

i guess they were hoping to have someone on the team capable of hitting 20HRs without K'ing 150-200 times.

Submitted by Ryno
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:58pm

What a great guy, though. I hope he finds a niche in Baltimore.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 3:01pm

just wait til BAL gets bobby scales and he evolves into a gold glove 3rd baseman with 30+ homers, 40+ doubles, and a .400 ob%

FREE BOBBY SCALES!!!

Submitted by Ryno
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 3:06pm

haha... I totally almost cracked a "he's almost as versatile as bobby scales" joke, but I took the high road. f u, crunch. =)

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 1:12pm

http://deadspin.com/5569120/heres-something-t...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 1:47pm

Cubs should drill Milton Bradley the first two times too see how his anger management classes are going.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:21pm

I bet he doesn't get called out on strikes if he comes up with the bases loaded.

Submitted by Mike Wellman
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 2:36pm

that would be worth staying up late for...

Submitted by Tony S.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 8:05pm

LMFAO

Yes they should, but Lou isn't that fucking creative.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 3:25pm

Brett Jackson and Hak-Ju Lee will play in the Futures Game

history of Cubs to play in it...
http://wiklifield.thecubreporter.com/Cubs_tha...

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 6:17pm

That list looks pretty good until you get down to Scott Moore.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 3:32pm

This might be a few days old, but another interview with Lou

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/13545706/p...

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 3:37pm

damn...now that's quote-heavy article. nice from-the-mouth stuff.

Submitted by jacos
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 6:07pm

sounds like an aa meeting for cubs managers.

Submitted by Tony S.
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 8:10pm

"Hi, my name is Dusty and along with Moises Alou's temper tantrum I fucked the 2003 playoffs."

"Hiii, Dusty"

Submitted by MikeC
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 8:38am

I will spend the rest of my life correcting people about the 2003 playoffs, Moises Alou and Steve Bartman did NOTHING to cause that collapse.

Shoulder your blame on Alex Gonzalez, everyone's favorite shitty SS whose only real skill was playing defense and on the biggest defensive play of his life he fucks it up and costs the Cubs the game and the series.

Everyone always forgets about Alex Gonzalez's epic fail in the playoffs and wants to concentrate on a foul ball hit into the stands. The foul ball didn't mean jack shit, but Alex Gonzalez's play meant everything.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 11:33am

Since when is Alex Gonzalez anyone's favorite shortstop? That's going a little far.

But yeah, he blew it. But I think in general it is difficult to place blame on something like this all on one person - whether it is Bartman, Alou, or Gonzalez. Any number of things could have went differently to change the inning and the game. A double, walk, wild pitch, and single set up the Gonzalez play, and a double followed to actually tie the game. Then five more runs scored after that. Plenty of chances to get out of there with the lead, tied, or down by a run. Plenty of blame to go around.

Submitted by MikeC
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 9:28pm

Alex Gonzalez was a teflon SS for the Cubs, he was sooooooooo awesome because he could hit for power. I guess if 15-20 HR's is power and a .240 average was something to praise, Alex Gonzalez got a ton of love on the message boards.

You know why i like Ryan Theriot? Alex fucking Gonzalez and his .240 and .220 average with an OBP hovering around .300. He was god awful at the plate. He was your prototypical April hitter who then disappeared till August then disappeared till next season. Those were the only meaningful months in his career where he did something positive and it was still shitty. But it was just enough to remind Cubs fans of how awesome he was and he was ready to bust out in a big way. EPIC FAIL.

At least he did play some decent D, but when that play happened, any positive thing left to say about that man was gone. The one thing he was good at it, and he finds a way to kick you in the nuts, its bad enough he couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag, but he misses the easiest grounder of his life? F him, F him till the end of Cubs history.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 11:24am

Don't forget that his presence stopped us from getting an "in his prime" Miggy Tejada

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 12:17pm

He was your prototypical April hitter who then disappeared till August then disappeared till next season.

Don't you hate when facts get in the way:

Alex Gonzalez, career OPS splits:
March/April: 678
May: 656
June: 745
July: 653
August: 770
September/October: 659

Submitted by The Joe
on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 12:47pm

I was just talking to someone the other day how 2003 was all Gonzo's fault, but then went on a long spiel about how he was the best looking Cub of all time.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 10:55pm

Hahaha, read the Dusty quote to end the article:

"Like my dad told me when I was going to quit Little League: He said no son of his is going to quit any league," Baker said. "That's what kept me going in Chicago. At the end there, I didn't have the team that I started with. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in the overall count of 101 years, or whatever it is."

I didn't have the team I had when I started with? First, grammatically, that's wrong. Second, it was 4 years later, nobody has the same team 4 years later. Third, he had a better team with more talent at the end of his tenure than the crap fest 2003 team that had guys like Karros and Grudz and a bunch of fill-ins.
Cubs c-ss in 2003: damian miller, karros, grudz, alex gonzalez.
Cubs c-ss in 2006: michael barrett, dlee, todd walker, ronny cedeno. With the exception of Cedeno, the other 3 had more talent then their predecessors.

Cubs 2003 bench included .218 hitter hee sopp choi, .209 hitting mark bellhorn (with 2 hr's), then tom goodwin and troy o'leary.

Cubs 2006 bench included hank white, .254 hitting neifi perez, ryan theriot, and 12 hr hitting phil nevin. it wasn't great but it was better then 2003. Dusty has his head so far up his ass he's blind.

And if he wants to complain about the pitching being different, that's what happens when you stomp on your young pitchers' arms, they get hurt. He's such a dumb asshole. Still doing the same shit in Cincy.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 11:06pm

he also said a bunch of sane and sensible stuff before that rather than blaming chicago or their fans for anything.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 7:57am

I just don't think this is an accurate picture of 2003-2006 at all.

Barrett over Miller, yes, but D-Lee played in 50 games in 2006. Compare John Mabry and his .205 BA to Karros. Not even close. Walker and Grudz are pretty much the same player career-wise, and Grudz's 2003 season destroyed Walker's 2006. Cedeno sucked. Ramirez is on both teams, but clearly better in 2006.

But would you rather have Sosa-Alou-Lofton, or Jones-Murton-Pierre? I mean, really? That's not even close. The 2003 OF had a combined 19 All-Star appearances compared to ZERO for 2006.

As for the bench, I'd say it's a push. You can give Blanco the edge over Bako, but Ramon Martinez (whom you left out) hit .284 compared to Neifi's .254. Nevin had more HR because he had more at-bats (again, D-Lee injury), but for rate stats Randall Simon is right with him. And Tom Goodwin, though you knocked him, hit .287 with 19 SBs off the bench.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 12:47pm

And the difference in pitching staffs is huge

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 2:33pm

The difference in pitching is huge because Baker ran our stars into the ground and they got hurt. Period. Baker is a jackass.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 3:25pm

Agreed,

Baker absolutely sucked and I hated this style and constant lineup changes.

I blame Hendry for hiring these guys and not having the nuts to deal with them.

I've heard Lou bitch about wanting a "Left-handed right-fielder who can bat 5th" since he got here. And he has used it as a built in excuse for every playoff loss that followed.

At some point you need to shut up and manage the team you got.

Submitted by navigator
on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 12:30pm

"Left-handed right-fielder who can bat 5th"

Maybe Lou should ask Jim to bring Tyler Colvin up from AAA......

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 1:32pm

Have you forgotten that Lou whined in the press about needing a "Left-handed right-fielder who can bat 5th" from 2007 until Bradley blew up in his face?

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 2:32pm

Not a single Cubs OF in 2003 made the all star team, so saying they had 19 all star appearances is deceiving. They didn't have all star years in 2003.

Phil Nevin was one of the replacements for DLee in 2006, and he hit 12 hr's in limited ab's.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 6:09pm

You started the conversation by talking about "talent" rather than performance, so in that sense All-Star appearances is not deceiving, but rather indicates the relative talent in the OF.

But let's take a look at actual performance of that outfield in a "non-star year" (2003) compared to the 2006 outfield, measured by OPS+.

2003
Sosa: 133
Lofton: 120
Patterson: 114
Alou: 111

2006
Jones: 108
Murton: 104
Pierre: 82
Pagan: 76

By that measure, the 2003 team had 4 outfielders better than the best of 2006.

X
You may login with either your assigned username or your e-mail address.
The password field is case sensitive.
Loading