ARod speculation aside, we are all getting what we've been screaming for from time immemorial: a stated goal of winning the WS and doing whatever it takes to do so.

 Let's stop complaining and appreciate that this man is gonna bust his rear to make us happy.

The believe that Piniella is a dynamic manager. I honestly don't expect him to go though the "bull in a china shop" contortions that many fans want. I get the feeling that between him and Hendry they'll make some shrewed moves when assessing players and bring in some winners.

I'm interested in how this manager and Mark Prior will interact. My gut feeling is Mark Prior will thrive under Lou Piniella. The same goes for Wood. I don't see J. Jones in RF for long, that is unless Lou gets J. Jones to hit the cut-off-man consistantly. J. Jones could benefit from Lou.

Am Ram could be the biggest benefactor of the Lou sigining. I have alway seen A-Ram as a MVP, Manny Ramirez type player, but only surounded by 1 or 2 players better then him. Am Ram is not a leader, but give him a role to play and I believe you'll get the best out of him.

D Lee will be D Lee...Joe cool!

I like that Hendry picked Lou Piniella.

So now shut up and win.

I'm sorry, I don't see how any of this is a net gain for us.

"Let's get ARod" sure sounds a lot like "Why not us?" to me.

If ARam bolts what do we have that would pry ARod away from the Yankees?  Z?  Not worth it.

It would be nice if they had thought to mention a switching ARod back to short when they started this rumor.  I guess they'd (Hendry, Piniella) would rather have Izturis be happy than ARam.  God knows we need that defensive wizard at short.

Fwiw I've heard that ARod isn't in shape to play shortstop anymore.  I have no idea if that's true but I can tell you the guy is a great athlete and works out as hard as anyone.  If he were motivated to come here and play short I have no doubt he could do it.

If there is one thing you can say about Lou, its that he suffers no fools.  If a player (young or old) isn't very good or has an attitude or plays like a dog, then he won't be long for the Cubs.  

Last night, I re-read a book that I first read over two decades ago, "The Bronx Zoo," authored by former Yankee relief pitcher Sparkly Lyle.   The book recounts the tumulutous 1978 season for the Yankees, the year of the Bucky Dent home run and the Yankees beating the Dodgers in the World Series.  Sweet Lou and Thurman Munson were the beloved emotional leaders of that great Yankee team.  Lou was a leader then, and he is a leader now.  If you've never read that book, I highly recoommend it.  Outstanding (and hilarious) reading.  

What concerns me most?  Larry Rothschild back as pitching coach.  

I just heard McDonough talking on the Mike North show. He was supposed to be talking about the playoffs. That's why he was booked in the first
place. Everytime that North changed the topic
to the Cubs Piniella said he didn't want to talk about it.

Could this all be just misdirection for the
Cubs to name the real manager in total suprise?

 So some of you either need to listen to Lord Stone's advice and realize that this is a really really good hire. (And while we're on it, will the people who keep saying we hired someone who's just like Dusty please stop talking? You're wrong! YOU ARE WRONG. He isn't anything like Dusty, he holds people accountable, he preaches fundamentals, he's a better jusge of talent, he doesn't hide behind his kid, He's won a world series, He's not black, the list goes on and on... he's nothing like Dusty....please let it go. )

 Your other action would be to realize that Steve Stone is simply a man with an opinion and is vastly underqualified to be a GM, or manager or other job you have lined up for him in the Cub orginization.

2006. 16 of 16
      
2005. 11
      
2004. 11
      
2003. 13
      
2002. 12
      
2001. 6
      
2000. 10
      
1999. 14
      
1998. 6
      
1997. 12 of 14
      
1996. 13
      
1995. 9
      
1994. 11
      
1993. 8
      
1992. 11 of 12
      
1991. 9
      
1990. 10

Prediction: It ain't gonna get any better with Lou Piniella.  This is a systemic problem.

So, everyone is outstanding and we can all pat ourselves on the backs and sit back and enjoy outstanding achievements in the field of excellence from the dugout...I give Pinella a chance, he's an upgrade over Baker for sure and reading Eyre's comments in the Tribune today was confirmation enough for me that Baker's stamp on this team was way too lax and to the point where it showed in very poor fundamental play...We don't need to pay $4 million per to have your friend's Uncle, who buy's beer for kids on the block manage a ballclub...I don't think we need a screamer either but that's what we have.

The Cubs have a hard time evaluating position players to draft because they are rely too heavily on things that are not significant contributors to being productive players...As long as that continues the farm system will struggle...The same way with choosing a manager, but this is not just the Cubs as it staggers me that these guys keep getting jobs at these salaries and there doesn't appear to be any objective criteria in making the choice (this is my complaint in general with baseball).  The gravy train keeps rolling for insiders in this sport and the Cubs' management is driving the train.

Okay, all that said, congrats. to Pinella and I hope he can convince Hendry to get some talented pitchers and hitters for this roster.  I hoped that Dusty did well when he was hired, although I was against the guy.  One area that Pinella should excel at immediately is dealing with criticism and the media.  This will be a welcome change.

Okay Hendry, you have your guy now get some players and let's make a run for the playoffs.  Please note Jim that you must stop ignoring the importance of OBP in making up your roster, you must field a competent bench, and stop counting on Wood and Prior to give you anything, they were burned out under your watch and you have to live with that--but quit trying to bring them back from the dead to save your self.

Oh, and still replace Bob with Stoney regardless of whether Bob takes a managing job.

Now thats who I want to hear next year....

1. A Rod is a not likely going to want to go through a winter of A Rod trade rumors again.  When he left Texas, he could paint it as "I'm tired of losing" & "I hate playing for a manager who is generally regarded as a jackass."  This time around, it wouldn't be pretty, basically it would be similar to the Sosa trade debacle, a celebrity player getting dragged through the mud as a team looks to trade him .  There is no way he goes through an entire winter of gettign dragged through the slop when he's in control.  
2. So... Scott Boras will step in and help to negotiate a trade, ala Maddux for Izturis.  This will be a highly directed affair, with a particular team (possibly, but not necessarily, the Cubs) the focus, that will happen quietly and under the radar.  
3.  I wouldn't be surprised if Hendry approached Ramirez before he opts out, and says "Hey, we'd love to have you in Chicago, but we could also facilitate a trade to NY, and you can negotiate with the Yankees"  For the Cubs, this obviously lands them A Rod, for the Yankees, this means a smaller loss at 3B than they could otherwise hope for if they lose A Rod, A Rod gets out of NY and doesn't have a full winter of NYDN back pages, A Ram would get more $$ than if he resigned with the Cubs.

Who knows, maybe Aramis has no desire to play in NY, but that to me is the only reasonable way I see A Rod in blue pinstripes next year.

"Piniella, as has been discussed at length here, is a very, very similar manager to Dusty Baker in terms of how he approaches lineup construction, use of young players, and use and abuse of starting pitchers and bullpens."

I disagree - he holds people accountable(unlike Dusty), AND, he balances great preparation with instincts.

I suppose the only way you'd be truly satisfied is if Girardi was hired as manager, Stone & Grace in the booth, Sandberg as bench coach, Billy Williams as hitting instructor, and Andy Pafko as First Base coach. Only ex-Cubs need apply for any position, because, "They get It".

Do they also "get" the losing?  

The sabermetrician geeks and the "play the kids regardless if they're are good or not crowd" are just gunning for a fight.  What you will find in Sweet Lou, unlike Dusty, is a manager who doesn't give a rip what people have to say concerning his managerial philosophies.  

Let Sweet Lou have a crack at this thing.  If Hendry actually gets him some players and Mark Prior can get over his three year bout of vaginitis, then this might be an entertaining and decent ballclub in 2007.  

But he wisely recanted this statement.

I think this is way, way off.  Baker was in a league of his own when it came to strategy and love of veterans.  Piniella is pretty much your typical manager when it comes to most tendencies.  If he has a fault in terms of field decisions, it's predictability.

David Geiser

As for the comments about shiny happy Pinniella during the PC. The dungeon in Wrigley is hot and very stagnent. Give him a break.

1.  Re-sign Juan Pierre to play CF
   
2.  Re-sign Aramis Ramirez to play 3rd
   
3.  Sign Alfonso Soriano to a $90 million deal to play LF
   
4.  Sign Ray Durham to play 2nd
   
5.  Sign either Ted Lilly or Gil Meche for the starting rotation
   
6.  Trade Matt Murton and Felix Pie for pitching
1.  Pierre - CF
   
2.  Durham - 2nd
   
3.  Soriano - LF
   
4.  Lee - 1st
   
5.  Jones - RF
   
6.  Ramirez - 3rd
   
7.  Barrett - Cat
   
8.  Izturis - SS

What have you identified as Cubs' biggest needs to improve--pitching, offense, outfield, can you be specific??

Surely he must've got into with Hendry how he feels about:
*Pierre as CF
*A-Ram
*middle INF of Izturis-Cedeno
*Barrett
*Jones-Murton as corner OF
not to mention the pitchers!! Doubt Pinella has strong feelings on any of the youngsters but will want to build around Big Z.

I don't know if Piniella will be good or bad. He's got a good track record (obviously). He's not a Sabremetrics kind of guy (which I lean to, but don't).

But he's obviously a big league coach. I'm not going to get too upset about what happens for awhile. In fact, I'm going to do what I can to not get upset for another 3 years.

That said, it seems we've got 2 choices here.

1. Try and push for a massive change and build a winning team now and go for the gold in 2007.
2. Don't blow things up and build for the future.

So bet on #2 and if you're lucky, you might just end up with #1.

In that case, why get rid of ARam and Z for ARod. Get rid of a good 3rd baseman who can hit and you're only ace for a good 3rd baseman who can hit? That seems really stupid. For that matter, trading ARam for ARod seems pretty much a wash. I don't think ARod would add that much more to the team. Maybe he would, but I just don't think so.

So where are we? Do we trade Z for ARod at SS? That also seems stupid. You're only ace for a SS? Nope.

None of those decisions make sense if you're trying to build for the future, unless you get some really good AAA pitchers in the deal. And I don't see that happening. Even then...

Getting ARod would be nice. A good hitting SS would be super sweet. I just don't know what we have to offer the Yankees. Now they may just want to get rid of him. And I suspect he doesn't want to be there anymore. Maybe we can get a sweet deal out of it. He wouldn't be super expensive either way.

But getting rid of Z and ARam for ARod doesn't work form my scenario #2 and it certainly doesn't work for scenario #1.

Something else has to happen. I'm not saying it won't. But I just don't like the possibilities that have been tossed around.

phat