Let's give Lou some credit

[jersey cubs fan]

I was not happy how Piniella handled the Atlanta series, specifically the Reneria situation. After Renteria pulled that crap on Fontenot, he needed to go down. Yes I realize the issues with getting another arm tossed out of the game, but you have to protect your players. I expect some more payback for Renteria next time these 2 teams face each other.

 

I don't have a problem with no hitting anybody else. You have to win the game and need your arms.

 

I just don't get why they didn't argue. It appeared to me he was out by a long margin, and he hit Fontenot. The ump made a delayed indecisive safe call. Lou should have been out there if only to complain about the out/safe call, but also to complain about the slide itself.

[Moonlight Graham]

I was not happy how Piniella handled the Atlanta series, specifically the Reneria situation. After Renteria pulled that crap on Fontenot, he needed to go down. Yes I realize the issues with getting another arm tossed out of the game, but you have to protect your players. I expect some more payback for Renteria next time these 2 teams face each other.

 

Which unless in the playoffs will be next year.

[Amazing_Grace]

Other than some very questionable decisions about bullpen usage, I've been pleased with Lou. He's definitely giving his young guys a chance to succeed. Dusty would never have played Theriot, and wouldn't have wanted to give Fontenot a try. He'd be playing Jones in RF every single day against LH and RH pitching. Murton would probably have even fewer ABs than he does. Also, he'd be keeping Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, and Sean Marshall out there till the 8th inning with pitch counts in the 110s and 120s.

 

He's not coddled his players the way Dusty did and he's not making stupid excuses in the media about the weather or day games or any of that other crap. The team is showing a lot more patience this season, with mostly the same guys on the team. That has to be largely attributable to coaching.

 

To turn a team from worst to first is a tall order, and his GM hasn't exactly given him a great roster to work with. All in all, I would give Piniella a solid B this season. For me to give him an A, he'd have to do even more to shake up the team and get bad hitters out of the lineup, like sitting Jones and using a Theriot/Fontenot platoon at short, and he'd have to manage his bullpen better.

[Danny82]

nm

[Fred Hornkohl]

Other than some very questionable decisions about bullpen usage, I've been pleased with Lou. He's definitely giving his young guys a chance to succeed. Dusty would never have played Theriot, and wouldn't have wanted to give Fontenot a try. He'd be playing Jones in RF every single day against LH and RH pitching. Murton would probably have even fewer ABs than he does. Also, he'd be keeping Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, and Sean Marshall out there till the 8th inning with pitch counts in the 110s and 120s.

 

Last year, under Dusty, there were only 7 instances (4.4% of all starts) where the CUBS' starter threw more than 120 pitches, and none of these instances involved the pitchers you mentioned.

 

starter     avg P/G     High
Marshall       85.6      102
Guzman         87.4      101
R Hill        101.0      120

 

He's not coddled his players the way Dusty did and he's not making stupid excuses in the media about the weather or day games or any of that other crap. The team is showing a lot more patience this season, with mostly the same guys on the team. That has to be largely attributable to coaching.

 

To further illustrate the point on patience........

 

year     BBs     P/PA
2005     419     3.61
2006     395     3.68
2007     499     3.72

 

I used straight linear extrapolation to come up with the 499 total for 2007

 

To turn a team from worst to first is a tall order, and his GM hasn't exactly given him a great roster to work with. All in all, I would give Piniella a solid B this season. For me to give him an A, he'd have to do even more to shake up the team and get bad hitters out of the lineup, like sitting Jones and using a Theriot/Fontenot platoon at short, and he'd have to manage his bullpen better.

 

Just my opinion, but I'd be hard pressed to grade Pienella so highly as long as the team is underperforming their Pythagorean projection by such a large margin.

[kente777]

I'll pass on both.

 

Too late...Lou signed for 3 years.

[Amazing_Grace]

Other than some very questionable decisions about bullpen usage, I've been pleased with Lou. He's definitely giving his young guys a chance to succeed. Dusty would never have played Theriot, and wouldn't have wanted to give Fontenot a try. He'd be playing Jones in RF every single day against LH and RH pitching. Murton would probably have even fewer ABs than he does. Also, he'd be keeping Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, and Sean Marshall out there till the 8th inning with pitch counts in the 110s and 120s.

 

Last year, under Dusty, there were only 7 instances (4.4% of all starts) where the CUBS' starter threw more than 120 pitches, and none of these instances involved the pitchers you mentioned.

 

starter     avg P/G     High
Marshall       85.6      102
Guzman         87.4      101
R Hill        101.0      120

 

He's not coddled his players the way Dusty did and he's not making stupid excuses in the media about the weather or day games or any of that other crap. The team is showing a lot more patience this season, with mostly the same guys on the team. That has to be largely attributable to coaching.

 

To further illustrate the point on patience........

 

year     BBs     P/PA
2005     419     3.61
2006     395     3.68
2007     499     3.72

 

I used straight linear extrapolation to come up with the 499 total for 2007

 

To turn a team from worst to first is a tall order, and his GM hasn't exactly given him a great roster to work with. All in all, I would give Piniella a solid B this season. For me to give him an A, he'd have to do even more to shake up the team and get bad hitters out of the lineup, like sitting Jones and using a Theriot/Fontenot platoon at short, and he'd have to manage his bullpen better.

 

Just my opinion, but I'd be hard pressed to grade Pienella so highly as long as the team is underperforming their Pythagorean projection by such a large margin.

 

Hmm. Well, he hasn't abused Zambrano either, but maybe that's because Zambrano hasn't pitched well enough to warrant it. I still believe Dusty would be abusing Hill and Marshall now that they're pitching well. I'd be curious to see what Hill's average pitches per game was after his second callup when he was pitching well. I'm in favor of a starter never throwing over 110 pitches in a regular season game, except in extreme cases.

 

As for the other stuff, the stats say you're right. I was going off my perceptions. Thanks for the correction.