Piniella on pitch counts:

[UK1679666180]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-0702230349feb23,1,5809704.story?coll=cs-baseball-print

 

"We try to keep pitch counts low," Piniella said. "We have a little more of a veteran staff here, but in Seattle, it was 110, 112, 115 pitches, and we hit 120 a couple of times. If we did hit 120, we'd back off the next start, or the start after that."

 

Definitely a good thing and I like the concept of skipping a start if the pitcher is above his normal fatigue level.

[shnsajax]

I don't think I would take Randy Johnson out of ther game either.

[wade]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-0702230349feb23,1,5809704.story?coll=cs-baseball-print

 

"We try to keep pitch counts low," Piniella said. "We have a little more of a veteran staff here, but in Seattle, it was 110, 112, 115 pitches, and we hit 120 a couple of times. If we did hit 120, we'd back off the next start, or the start after that."

 

Definitely a good thing and I like the concept of skipping a start if the pitcher is above his normal fatigue level.

 

If all the starters are healthy they have the depth to do just that.

[UK1679666180]

It'll be interesting to see, in Seattle, he was not afraid to overwork his pitchers, you look at some of the totals of Paul Abbott, Freddy Garcia, and of course RJ and their workload were very high.

[wilk]

Just to clarify he's not saying he'd skip a start - just give a stricter pitch count limit in a start following a heavy one. Besides injury, I don't think you'll see Piniella skip anyone's starts this year.

[wade]

It'll be interesting to see, in Seattle, he was not afraid to overwork his pitchers, you look at some of the totals of Paul Abbott, Freddy Garcia, and of course RJ and their workload were very high.

 

Was Piniella the manager that had Johnson come back on short rest to try to win 20 games one year? He ended up with a ton of innnings that year if I'm thinking right.

[Derwood]

Cub pitchers could just stop walking people and it would become a moot point

[CubmanPi]

Cub pitchers could just stop walking people and it would become a moot point

That's just crazy talk.

[wade]

Cub pitchers could just stop walking people and it would become a moot point

 

Yeah, he said he wanted that a couple of days ago.

[Tracer Bullet]

Cub pitchers could just stop walking people and it would become a moot point

 

That would help, but even high strikeout pitchers are going to throw a lot of pitches.

 

Z has thrown a lot of pitches recently. He's been remarkably healthy, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's immune to overwork. Especially if they sign him to a long-term deal before the season, I'd like to see his workload cut back this season.

[nilodnayr]

It'll be interesting to see, in Seattle, he was not afraid to overwork his pitchers, you look at some of the totals of Paul Abbott, Freddy Garcia, and of course RJ and their workload were very high.

 

I think this is an interesting common theme. A lot of the concerns we all had about Lou coming into the season have really been alieved based on the comments he has made. He has stated to not judge him by his past. Hopefully he is not just blowing smoke up our butts and has matured as a student of the game. Actions obviously speak louder than words, so we really can't judge until the season is underway. But the fact that he acknowledges that his recent comments are opposed to his past actions, leads me to believe that he may be a different manager than he was in the past. Which, I am very happy about.