Piniella On The Hot Seat?
There is a reason that I put a question mark at the end of the title of this post. I know the Cubbies have been slipping after a recent 16-6 stretch, but I hadn’t heard that Lou was under fire. Not yet at least. Then this morning I read a note on Yahoo Sports Rumors that said:
The Chicago Cubs are less than four games out of first place in the National League Central, but they just lost five in a row and only three of their last 10 while the first-place St. Louis Cardinals seem to be going in the other direction, winning seven of their last 10.
The word is that Cubs executives are not amused. And they aren’t afraid to express their feelings to manager Lou Piniella. His Cubbies had recently won 16 of 22 to get into a first-place tie that now is looking pretty distant again.
The rumor going around is that the team may be losing patience with Piniella, according to the Chicago Tribune. After all, he hasn’t been able to get his North Siders to win it all in the three seasons he’s been managing and this off-season won’t likely bring the team much on the free-agent front to bolster the current roster.
It could be time to cut Lou loose.
That’s all well and good to speculate about whether Lou should take the blame for the Cubbies recent demise, but this story seems to be reporting it as a fact that “Cubs executives are not amused” with Piniella’s performance. Unfortunately, that statement is completely unsubstantiated. If you click through on the link about the team losing patience with him, it is a Tribune article explaining how Brenly was critical of the teams preparedness and how the Cubs have been playing poorly, but no word about anyone connected with the front office blaming it on Lou.
Should Lou be worried? Sure, the Cubs are playing poorly and he may well be on the hot seat for it. Is the Tribune article or any other reliable source claiming the team has explicitly (or even implicitly) blamed Lou? No. The mainstream media strikes again, and yet why do I still have to hear about the “unreliability” of blogs and the “trustworthiness” of big media conglomerates?
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Comments
Comment from Kevin Tapani Fan Club
Time August 14, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I’m torn. I like Lou and I think he’s gotten somewhat of a raw deal with the players he has been forced to coach since he’s been in Chicago, especially this year. However, I don’t see him having the patience at his age to stick around for the amount of time it will take to assemble a championship caliber ball club or to do the things that are necessary to change the clubhouse culture. Despite being only 4 games out, the Cubs seem lost. They haven’t had an identity all-year and part of that blame can fall on the manager. I agree that the team probably needs to be blown up and re-assembled. It’s hard for players to bounce back when they’ve already fallen well-short of their expectations.
Comment from rex jaybels
Time August 14, 2009 at 2:13 pm
The one thing that has bothered me most about Lou this season is the droning repsonse of, “What are ya’ gonna do,” or “What do you want me to do?” How about manage. It took too long to move Soriano to the 6 hole and he seems to coddle some others too much, I’m looking at Bradley.
Injuries have been a major issue, and Lou can’t hit for these guys, but he can put them in position to win and come up with something better than the responses he has when they don’t. Maybe that would at least make people feel a bit better when times are bad.
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Time August 14, 2009 at 3:16 pm
[...] Is Lou Piniella on the hot seat? Of course he is. He manages the Cubs. (Not Qualified to Comment) [...]
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Time August 14, 2009 at 5:38 pm
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Comment from dhaab
Time August 15, 2009 at 11:54 pm
First time reader here. I really liked reading the last line of this piece. Couldn’t agree more.
But I don’t think Pineilla should take most of the blame for this years team. That should be reserved for GM, Jim Hendry. Milton Bradley almost single handedly ruined the chemistry of this club. Also, there have been a ton of injuries which really hurt the momentum of the club throughout the season.
As for Ryne Sandberg being the next Cubs manager, it makes me think about how he quit in the middle of the season in 1994. At the time, his Cubs were in dead last and out of the race. Not a good precedent to set for someone who wants to be a “leader”.
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Comment from Jeff Brokaw
Time August 14, 2009 at 11:07 am
I like Lou, and he does manage games (especially pitchers) better than clowns like Dusty Baker, and he values the high-OBP style of offense, which worked unbelievably well last year.
But 0-6 in two postseasons doesn’t speak well of his post-season preparedness and adaptability. And the team appears to be quitting now. Which, frankly, I’m with Barry Rozner here, the biggest problem with this team this year and in the last two postseasons is probably more about leadership in the clubhouse. Great teams always have that. But you can fire a manager easier than you can re-make a roster, especially with those huge contracts, and taking the easy way out is what management does.
Speaking of management, I’m hoping they’re keeping the seat warm for Ryno. He’s old-school and will demand effort, team play, and winning. Of course, with millionaires all over the roster instead of AA guys, effort and team play will be a challenge.