Who was against the Cubs getting Piniella?

[Tracer Bullet]

Me because:

 

A) I thought his fiery reputation was a knee jerk reaction to the Dusty Baker era

B) I think I remember hearing that he had issues with playing veterans over rookies just like Dusty

C) I heard he wasn't a great in game manager

 

I guess I can't believe everything I read.

 

Guess you can say he was a pleasant surprise :)

 

I don't know about that. He still has had problems allowing rookies to adjust to the bigs... Pie had almost no chance at all, and Fukudome getting benched with the lead we have in the division was just plain stupid.

 

And there's no doubting that he's made plenty of stupid in-game moves... and they seem to come more often in games he deems critical, which makes me nervous about seeing Soto trying to bunt again during the playoffs.

 

He's been better than I expected, but he hasn't been fantastic.

 

Yeah, that about sums it up for me too. Though, as someone else mentioned, if I had known he was going to hire Perry and emphasize OBP, I wouldn't have been so against it. I don't recall being terribly vocal about not wanting Lou, but I might have been. He's been good enough - hasn't screwed up so bad that he's lost us some games or destroyed the careers of 2 of our great young pitchers, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

[CubmanPi]

The first three pages of that Piniella thread had calls for both Zito and Bochy, which makes me think of the Hendry complaints in new light.

 

I remember not having any opinion on Piniella but hoping that Girardi would be the one to get the job. :shrug:

[CUBZ99]

The first three pages of that Piniella thread had calls for both Zito and Bochy, which makes me think of the Hendry complaints in new light.

 

I remember not having any opinion on Piniella but hoping that Girardi would be the one to get the job. :shrug:

 

Good times. There was someone in the Piniella thread begging Hendry to sign Suppan. :D)

 

I think I can safely say that if everyone would have known that Lou would take the Cubs to the playoffs his first two years, we would have all been jumping up and down.

[splintersag]

I'll be honest. This hiring is neither here nor there for me. I won't lose sleep over it. I care WAY more about the upcoming free agency period than who sits in the dugout looking fat and old

 

more scintillating analysis from you're truly

 

YOUR(s), NOT YOU'RE!!!! :evil:

 

Anyway, I was for Girardi, but Lou was my second choice. I thought he was a Dusty 2.0, slightly better but still some senile old kook that would give too much playing time to vets and his "horses". Actually, I wasn't against the hiring as much as I just described, I just prefered Joe Girardi.

 

I'm happy to be

 

http://tricons.com/NFLForum/images/EatCrow.gif

 

[Flames24Rulz]

I wasn't totally against Piniella, but I wanted Girardi.

[splintersag]

We could always just look:

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36074

 

;)

Seems like a lot of people didn't like his announcing either, and I agreed with them. At least his managing is better than his commentating. :lol:

[Omar]

I was still doubtful of him until his first Press Conference... He bought me with "Give me 8 midgets who walk all the time."

[soapy]

We could always just look:

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36074

 

;)

 

I'd say there are a few things he can do to win me over:

-Take care of the pitchers (especially SP). Don't over tax them. Give them extra days off every once in a while. Take them out of blowout games with their pitch count low, etc.

-Construct reasonable lineups on a regular basis. Please don't bat Izturis second. Platoon Jones.

-Don't give away outs on a regular basis (sacrificing when it's not necessary, which is most of the time).

-Don't become obsessed with playing vets who are of little to no value to the team on a regular basis over younger players with much more potential.

 

If he did the majority of those things, I'd be happy with him.

 

This is what I said at the time. I wasn't really supportive, but I took kind of a wait and see approach. For the most part (though not entirely) he's done the things I asked back then.

[BigbadB]

After watching Dusty Baker at the helm, I would have jumped for joy if the Cubs named a dead parrot as their new manager.

 

I liked the idea of Lou, but I did have concerns about the veteran fetish in Tampa. I recall them bringing in Robbie Alomar and a few other older than dirt and declining skilled players when they didn't need to.

 

Lou said all the right things going into his first season, and I bought in completely.

[apete6]

Me because:

 

A) I thought his fiery reputation was a knee jerk reaction to the Dusty Baker era

B) I think I remember hearing that he had issues with playing veterans over rookies just like Dusty

C) I heard he wasn't a great in game manager

 

I guess I can't believe everything I read.

 

Guess you can say he was a pleasant surprise :)

 

I don't know about that. He still has had problems allowing rookies to adjust to the bigs... Pie had almost no chance at all, and Fukudome getting benched with the lead we have in the division was just plain stupid.

 

And there's no doubting that he's made plenty of stupid in-game moves... and they seem to come more often in games he deems critical, which makes me nervous about seeing Soto trying to bunt again during the playoffs.

 

He's been better than I expected, but he hasn't been fantastic.

 

+1. He's been good, but let's remember that Dusty got us to within 5 outs of a WS and we all knew he sucked.

 

I really wanted Girardi, but then again, I didn't expect them to sign Soriano, Lilly, Marquis, etc...and then follow that up with Fukudome, Harden trade, etc.

 

I still think Soto should have been called up last year a few months earlier and Pie should have gotten more of a chance, but that is just as much JHs call as it is Lou's (see Kendall, Jason and Edmonds, Jim--who were both pretty good).

[loukycub]

i favored joe and i really didn't have much of an opinion on lou or anyone else. my basic opinion was "i hope it's joe, but if not joe then someone not like dusty plz".

 

i never followed the team close enough to get on the message boards at the time (despite my join date, i went nearly 4 years from join date to first serious posts) so i had no idea lou Piniella was even a candidate.

[apete6]

Penguin 11 in 2006 said: FWIW, Steve Stone just interviewed on WSCR mentioned that he knows many people in baseball that believe Larry Rothschild is a top 5 MLB pitching coach and that he believes that the Cubs will be in a world series within the next two years.

 

Good God, this better become true...

[CubinNY]

I don't think I was too fired up about Lou, but I know I didn't want Girardi.

 

Anyone who watched just a few Marlin games or listened to him talk shouldn't have wanted Girardi.

 

He's a Neanderthal. Who gives a crap if he used to play for the Cubs. Same with Ryne Sandberg.

[David]

The ONLY thing I like about this move (aside from the fact that I'm a little encouraged about the comments I heard he made in the playoff games about OBP and lineup construction) is that Piniella most likely wants to win now, and this probably means that the Cubs made him promises about what they're going to be doing and who they're going to be going after this offseason.

 

I look forward to an aggressive offseason and hopefully a well-spent 115 million dollar payroll, if nothing else.

 

 

Hahahahaha how freaking awesome am I?