Give Pinella credit: He'll fail with flare!

by user M.Smith

Lou Piniella got hired on as the new Chicago Cubs manager earlier this week. It seems like the sports heads on ESPN are about to have an orgasm about the choice and no one wants to state that perhaps Lou will not do any better than any of the other managers in the last ninety years.

The man has one World Series title, oh, about 16 years ago with the Reds. Give him credit, he managed it, but come on. Piniella's record is 1,519-1,420. Yeah, thats right, only 99 games over. Eighteen seasons, that is only 5.5 games over per year. This is hardly a stellar record. That is barely enough to get the wild card in most years, let alone a division championship or a world series win.

Remember Tampa Bay? Yeah, he can't turn around a team like say, Jim Leyland can... The Cubs have "talent", but their two best pitchers (Kerry Wood, Mark Prior) have shown no ability to stay off the DL. Getting Derrek Lee back will help and they have some room to spend, but Lou is not going to make the Cubs winners overnight as some media seems to want to purpose... that is just stupid and without reason.

But give Piniella this, even if he fails... he's good for at least two amazingly funny tirades!

M.SmithSoccer Kid

1141 days ago

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By fail, I mean not break the "curse"... just to clarify if it wasn't clear.

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

1141 days ago

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I agree with the Pinella comments. The media seems to think that the Cubs will win the Series next year. I have a news flash for the media....It's the Cubs! I can't agree with Wood and Prior being the two best pitchers on the staff though. I think that honor falls on Zambrano.

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M.SmithSoccer Kid

1141 days ago

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Oh good point there. I overlooked Zambrano... though I would say that Prior is better when healthy and perhaps Wood, but I can't remember the last time he was healthy. Its so hard to tell when guys are injured most of the year every year, hard to get any sort of mojo working.

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BU ICEMANJV Squad

1141 days ago

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So, if he's going to "fail with flare," does that mean he's going to wave flaming red-orange sticks in his hands at the umps when he goes into his first Instant Classic Tirade?

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J CunninghamVarsity Captain

1141 days ago

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Is Wood still going to the bullpen this year, or has that talk pretty much ceased? Either way, I think the best thing the Cubs can do to get competitive in a weak National League is to cut ties with Wood and Prior entirely. Invest your resources elsewhere, try to keep everyone healthy, and see if you can't make a big offseason move or two. Then again, this is the Cubs we're talking about; nothing they do is ever going to work. I guarantee you if Prior and Wood wind up elsewhere, their careers are gonna soar.

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Anonymous Fanatic #2

1141 days ago

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They will buy out Wood for 3 million and then most likely resign him to a million dollar contract that has a lot of incentives built in. I think thats worth it. He will go to the bullpen, but don't even think about him being a closer, not gonna happen. As for Prior, he is still under contract, so you may as well keep him around and see if the baseball gods will shine down on you and let his "genetic looseness" go away for a year or two.

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EnyboDiv-I Stud

1141 days ago

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^^ Sorry that was me, if you couldn't tell.

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EnyboDiv-I Stud

1141 days ago

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As for the Cubs themselves, at this point you have to move forward with the idea that Wood and Prior will not pitch for you next year, that way, if you do get anything out of them, its a bonus. I am hoping Pinella can attract better players than Baker did. Some of the rumors flying around are that A-Rod and Ichiro loved playing for him and would like to again. At this point they are just rumors, but we'll see what happens this winter.

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DemonboyDraft Pick

1141 days ago

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Wood - I agree with FP, they will just buy him out... IF they offer him anything (doubtfull but you never know) they'll offer something like 4-5Mil to work out of the pen... NO TEAM will pay Wood the 13Mil+ that his current 'contract' has if the Cubs don't buy him out... he's not even worth 7 at this point with the injuries... at least not as a starter... as a reliever, especially closer, I think he'll be great IMO

Personally though, I think that a good portion of his injuries does stem from over-abuse by Don Baylor & Dusty Baker... leaving him throw 120, 130 even 135 pitches - his arm was never conditioned to throw that much... Prior - same thing... granted Prior hasn't thrown more than 110 pitches in a game since 2002... but in 2002, he did have a couple of games were he did throw 135+ and that's when he started to have problems... IF both pitchers are used correctly, I think that they'll both be very effective...

The Cubs as a whole, DO have some good talent... Barrett - while he may not be a great defensive catcher, he is one of the better hitting catchers Lee - We all know what he can do... ARam - If his head is screwed on right (Pinella is the perfect fit here for that), he'll be much better than what he is... Murton - While not a great power hitter, he's the OBP guy... Pierre - Good leadoff guy that gives A LOT of speed at the top of the order... Zambrano - Stud of the staff Hill - Youngster that has shown flashes that he could be good...

That's a decent core of players that with some tweaking, can win... in the Central, you have to remember that Pit & Mil are too young & too inexperienced (as a whole) to keep up any kind of pace through out the entire year, Hou MAY loose both Clemens AND Pettite, Cin - while good to great early, you know they always seem to fade as the season progresses... finally St. Louis - 4 out thier 5 starters are free agents - no way they could keep them all... Chicago HAS the money to spend and look the most promising... maybe that's what Pinella saw? Yes I did steal that from Sportcenter but just happened to agree on...

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1140 days ago

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see? Cubs fans are always happiest in the offseason! Hope abounds! Me thinks Pinella saw $$$ in the Cubs job. After he stole Psycho's wallet, he realized he'd need a "job" to coverup his kleptoness... (what's the over/under on Pinella hiring Lyons as a coach?? It could seriously happen)

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