FanPost

Piniella in NY Daily News Column

Lou Piniella was the topic of a short column in Friday's NY Daily News.  It touches on Lou's former, and hometown, team being in the World Series and his take on it.

More interestingly, it talks about the organizational strategies for 2009:

While the Cubs had the National League's best record this season, their flaws - not enough lefthanded hitters, Alfonso Soriano's inconsistency out of the leadoff spot, shaky middle relief - all showed up in the playoffs. Piniella said the Cubs' main agenda these next few weeks will be to re-sign pending free agents Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood and explore trade options for lefthanded hitting and bullpen help. He also said he plans to move Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs' $48 million Japanese import whose second-half slump exasperated the manager, to center field as part of a platoon with Reed Johnson.

A lot of us have speculated on the platoon with Fukudome and Johnson, but this could give it some credence.  I'm actually surprised to see it telegraphed like this (although I've not read it in any Chicago paper to this point), because it would seem to devalue Pie in a trade.  If true, it's also a pretty clear sign to Edmonds that he won't be invited back.

Maybe Pie really isn't the real deal, but this does seem to be more of Lou's doghouse coloring talent evaluation. 

(It also seems that I could win my bet with Ballhawk -- $5 to Project 3000 that Pie will be out of the Cub organization by the end of the 2009 Convention -- still waiting to see if Drew wants some of that action.)

I'm not familiar with the author of the column, and I don't know how reputable he is . . . I'm hoping for comments on that in addition to discussions on the quote itself.

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