Lou Pinella, What the hell are you doing?

[inari]

yeah...lou is a moron...the cubs deserve being in last place....oh...wait...the cubs are in FIRST place....never mind...... :oops:

 

So... since the players have covered for Lou's mistakes, he's excused for all of them?

 

 

its easy to "arm chair" manage.....lous record this year, and over his career show that he knows what he is doing...im not trying to be mean, but hey, a win is a win, and if the cubs are in first, to me, im happy about it.....thats all im saying.....

 

So Dusty Baker was a good manager in '03?

 

'03??? Seriously I dont care about that ... I want the cubs to finally win now... So if dusty was good or bad in 2003 means nothing to me now....

 

Ah, ignoring the face that your ridiculous argument just got shot down is much easier than actually responding to it.

[Keener98]

Anybody care to defend Lou having his number 5 hitter sacrifice bunt? How about defending him for letting Reed Johnson face Capps, whos a RH pitcher, when we just signed a guy who bats left handed to platoon with Reed? Good job Lou

[Clem Fandango]

Anybody care to defend Lou having his number 5 hitter sacrifice bunt? How about defending him for letting Reed Johnson face Capps, whos a RH pitcher, when we just signed a guy who bats left handed to platoon with Reed? Good job Lou

 

Maybe Edmonds was too busy [insert homosexual joke] to pinch hit

[Dirt Dog Sparly]

Anybody care to defend Lou having his number 5 hitter sacrifice bunt? How about defending him for letting Reed Johnson face Capps, whos a RH pitcher, when we just signed a guy who bats left handed to platoon with Reed? Good job Lou

 

Maybe Edmonds was too busy [insert homosexual joke] to pinch hit

 

Actually without the joke it may very well have been a situation where Edmonds wasnt ready to hit at that time. The folks that do know wont ever tell, but since we all are doing a great job with our lives lets take a little time and take turns managing the Cubs. ](*,)

[TruffleShuffle]

Anybody care to defend Lou having his number 5 hitter sacrifice bunt? How about defending him for letting Reed Johnson face Capps, whos a RH pitcher, when we just signed a guy who bats left handed to platoon with Reed? Good job Lou

 

Maybe Edmonds was too busy [insert homosexual joke] to pinch hit

 

Actually without the joke it may very well have been a situation where Edmonds wasnt ready to hit at that time. The folks that do know wont ever tell, but since we all are doing a great job with our lives lets take a little time and take turns managing the Cubs. ](*,)

 

well what the hell was he doing, taking a dump? he didn't do a thing all game long, i think it's a pretty safe bet that he would've been available if his number was called in the ninth inning.

[RynoRules]

I didn't like Kosuke bunting either, but guys, its one freakin loss. Chill.

[Keener98]

I didn't like Kosuke bunting either, but guys, its one freakin loss. Chill.

Chill? I dont see anybody thats having a raging fit, just some questioning of some pretty dumb moves.

[Keener98]

Anybody care to defend Lou having his number 5 hitter sacrifice bunt? How about defending him for letting Reed Johnson face Capps, whos a RH pitcher, when we just signed a guy who bats left handed to platoon with Reed? Good job Lou

 

Maybe Edmonds was too busy [insert homosexual joke] to pinch hit

 

Actually without the joke it may very well have been a situation where Edmonds wasnt ready to hit at that time. The folks that do know wont ever tell, but since we all are doing a great job with our lives lets take a little time and take turns managing the Cubs. ](*,)

 

 

Yup thats what I thought, there really is no defense for the moves. Lou messed up 2 pretty obvious, big gametime decisions. Im not even sure what it means to say Edmonds wasnt ready to hit at that time. He was on the 25 man gametime roster, in uniform, not injured, and getting paid, not sure what more he would have to do to be more ready.

 

Oh and it was nice of the media to not even bother asking Lou why he'd let a RH Reed Johnson face a righty when he has another CF whos LH on the bench.

[Careless]

Ok, first bunt attempt is defensible: they're not expecting it and he's pretty good at bunting, probably. Good chance of a single there. I'll give Lou a pass on the first one, but after he missed that...

Also, using our third best reliever for 3 innings... well, it's not a terrible decision with only 23 pitches, but...

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Ok, first bunt attempt is defensible: they're not expecting it and he's pretty good at bunting, probably. Good chance of a single there. I'll give Lou a pass on the first one, but after he missed that...

Also, using our third best reliever for 3 innings... well, it's not a terrible decision with only 23 pitches, but...

 

Well, he's our 2nd best reliever today with Wood unavailable.

[TruffleShuffle]

Also, using our third best reliever for 3 innings... well, it's not a terrible decision with only 23 pitches, but...

 

i'm a big believer in letting a reliever work if he has it going. not necessarily marmol since his "off" days are few and far between, but if wuertz is throwing well, then go with it. IMO, the more you change pitchers, the better chance that you're going to put a guy in the game who doesn't have it that day, or at least doesn't have time to settle into some sort of rhythm. wuertz won't be available on sunday, but everyone else will be, so they'll be fine.

[Careless]

Also, using our third best reliever for 3 innings... well, it's not a terrible decision with only 23 pitches, but...

 

i'm a big believer in letting a reliever work if he has it going. not necessarily marmol since his "off" days are few and far between, but if wuertz is throwing well, then go with it. IMO, the more you change pitchers, the better chance that you're going to put a guy in the game who doesn't have it that day, or at least doesn't have time to settle into some sort of rhythm. wuertz won't be available on sunday, but everyone else will be, so they'll be fine.

OK, but Wuertz has been so good recently that he should be considered a valuable commodity by our manager. Lou knocked our "7th inning guy" out for the next 3-4 days today. He didn't throw that many pitches, and they were all important innings, so I'm torn.

[Sammy Sofa]

Lou knocked our "7th inning guy" out for the next 3-4 days today. He didn't throw that many pitches, and they were all important innings, so I'm torn.

 

I'm confused...you correctly acknowledge that Wuertz didn't throw that many pitches, but then inexplicably say he's out for 3-4 days. Was he throwing a bowling ball?

 

Lou makes some dumb moves, but I don't see why Wuertz couldn't go after 2 days off, or even after 1 day off if it's an emergency.

Edited May 18, 2008 by Sammy Sofa

[Sosa21MVP]

I typically believe a manager doesn't really make much difference at all either way but Lou has made some bizarre moves this season. I just hope his hunches are correct in October.

[Careless]

Lou knocked our "7th inning guy" out for the next 3-4 days today. He didn't throw that many pitches, and they were all important innings, so I'm torn.

 

I'm confused...you correctly acknowledge that Wuertz didn't throw that many pitches, but then inexplicably say he's out for 3-4 days. Was he throwing a bowling ball?

 

Lou makes some dumb moves, but I don't see why Wuertz couldn't go after 2 days off, or even after 1 day off if it's an ehmergency.

He's a reliever who's thrown twice in the past week, 3 innings and 2.2 innings (and 2 innings in the 9 days before that). He is, for some reason, long relief, instead of setup. Remember, when Lou uses a reliever for long relief in a tie game, it's not because he's aware of the leverage, it's because he thinks he's terrible. I was hoping that, after most of a game of good relief, Wuertz would be replaced after a great inning or two. He was not. He's in long relief, and I don't see Lou using his long reliever for an important 7th (or whatever similar situation) inning situation

 

edit: the "high leverage long reliever" would be a new type of player. It would be fascinating if Lou created that this year. If I thought Lou was doing that, I wouldn't be complaining. I think, instead, he's just blowing Wuertz as a long reliever

[VanceJergins]

I couldn't actually watch the game. Was Fuku's bunt a typical sac bunt, like where he squared around before the pitch and everything?

[Careless]

I couldn't actually watch the game. Was Fuku's bunt a typical sac bunt, like where he squared around before the pitch and everything?

He bunted and pulled back the pitch before, so they knew it was coming.

[VanceJergins]

I couldn't actually watch the game. Was Fuku's bunt a typical sac bunt, like where he squared around before the pitch and everything?

He bunted and pulled back the pitch before, so they knew it was coming.

 

Then yeah, super dumb. A surprise attack bunt probably wouldn't have been a horrible idea since Fuku has been so good at it - although not if the corners were playing in.

[dew1679666265]

I couldn't actually watch the game. Was Fuku's bunt a typical sac bunt, like where he squared around before the pitch and everything?

He bunted and pulled back the pitch before, so they knew it was coming.

 

Was it his decision or Lou's? I wasn't able to watch, but I seem to recall hearing Kosuke was a good bunter in Japan, so he may have done it himself - though that's less likely considering he attempted it twice.

[dew1679666265]

What's Piniella's career winning percentage? It isn't bad, but I don't think it shows he unquestionably knows what he is doing either.

 

1,627-1,512. That's a .518 winning percentage.

 

If you remove the Tampa Bay years, which were some of the worst teams ever assembled, his winning percentage goes to .538.

 

Why would we remove those? Can we remove his best three seasons also?

 

Either way, that's good but it isn't earth-shattering.

 

I think the reason he's eliminating the Tampa years is because they simply didn't have the talent to win and there was nothing Lou could do about it. The powers that be in Tampa wouldn't spend the money and he had crap teams - therefore making it a little unfair to blame him for poor seasons.

 

I don't care who the manager is, if he has abysmal talent, he won't have a good record.

[dew1679666265]

I couldn't actually watch the game. Was Fuku's bunt a typical sac bunt, like where he squared around before the pitch and everything?

He bunted and pulled back the pitch before, so they knew it was coming.

 

Was it his decision or Lou's? I wasn't able to watch, but I seem to recall hearing Kosuke was a good bunter in Japan, so he may have done it himself - though that's less likely considering he attempted it twice.

 

Ok, I'll go ahead and correct myself. Just read it was, in fact, Lou's call. Bad decision by Lou.

[RynoRules]

I didn't like Kosuke bunting either, but guys, its one freakin loss. Chill.

Chill? I dont see anybody thats having a raging fit, just some questioning of some pretty dumb moves.

 

Right. They are the hottest team in baseball and we are picking apart every little mistake. Good news is that we might only get to do that a total of 70 or so times this season.

 

My point is that you should go and find a manager who doesn't make this sort of mistake every now and again over 162 games. I don't think its been a consistent issue.

[Sammy Sofa]

I didn't like Kosuke bunting either, but guys, its one freakin loss. Chill.

Chill? I dont see anybody thats having a raging fit, just some questioning of some pretty dumb moves.

 

Right. They are the hottest team in baseball and we are picking apart every little mistake. Good news is that we might only get to do that a total of 70 or so times this season.

 

My point is that you should go and find a manager who doesn't make this sort of mistake every now and again over 162 games. I don't think its been a consistent issue.

 

Most of the things brought up in this thread have been consitent issues.

[Chocolate Milk]

I got into an argument with a dude in the bleachers over that sac bunt. Let your number 5 guy swing away.

 

It was a good game, but I was not happy to see him squaring around with Soto and DeRosa coming up next.

[Keener98]

I didn't like Kosuke bunting either, but guys, its one freakin loss. Chill.

Chill? I dont see anybody thats having a raging fit, just some questioning of some pretty dumb moves.

 

Right. They are the hottest team in baseball and we are picking apart every little mistake. Good news is that we might only get to do that a total of 70 or so times this season.

 

My point is that you should go and find a manager who doesn't make this sort of mistake every now and again over 162 games. I don't think its been a consistent issue.

 

Well that is where we differ, because you call the mistakes made by Lou "little", where in my opinion those mistakes had a pretty big effect on the outcome of the game. Fukus bunt attempt was a big part of the game, and letting Johnson face a righty in the 9th inning, when you have a left handed hitter on the bench, was a big part of the game.

 

And on another note, the Reed Johnson lovefest is reaching Neifi levels by Lou. Johnsons numbers are HORRIBLE, and thats against LH and RH pitching. For the month of May Johnson is hitting .191 .269 .319 with a putrid .588 OPS, but yet we send our top prospect down. If it wasnt for Johnsons .375 OBP against LH pitching, his numbers would be Neifiesque.

 

And yes these mistakes Lou keeps making are pretty consistent. Bad bullpen decisions, overmanaging, and playing Johnson.