Lou's brainless managerial moves: Not his fault?

[Cubbie Swagger]

Sometimes I think that Lou literally doesn't know what he's doing. He's talked about his "senior moments", and sometimes I wonder if his age is just taking a large toll on his mental capacity. In his interviews, sometimes he can't even form sentences, and some of the moves he's made have just been unexplainable. I'm beginning to think that it's not a matter of him making bad decisions, but rather, a matter of him just having mental lapses that cause him to do things that don't make sense. How did he manage previous teams (in particular, the ones that won games)? Honestly, I never followed his career very closely until he came to the Cubs.

 

Opinions?

[DiamondMind]

Sometimes I think that Lou literally doesn't know what he's doing. He's talked about his "senior moments", and sometimes I wonder if his age is just taking a large toll on his mental capacity. In his interviews, sometimes he can't even form sentences, and some of the moves he's made have just been unexplainable. I'm beginning to think that it's not a matter of him making bad decisions, but rather, a matter of him just having mental lapses that cause him to do things that don't make sense. How did he manage previous teams (in particular, the ones that won games)? Honestly, I never followed his career very closely until he came to the Cubs.

 

Opinions?

 

It is pretty funny when he can't even form a sentence in the post game press conferences. I always had trouble picturing him giving a stirring clubhouse meeting to his team.

[manbearcub]

i have trouble believing he would make any of these moves without consulting Trammell and/or Rothschild

[17 Seconds]

It almost seems like he's given up, too. I keep waiting for him to get pissed off in the postgame but every day the losing streak gets longer he just sounds like he cares less and less. "Well uhh... we'll try to a few other things... the pitching was..uhhh.. play...but we need to score more runs". At least show that you still care. Get fired up. I feel like he is totally drained, career wise.

[DiamondMind]

I should say that I still have quite a bit of faith in Piniella. Just because he's said some questionable stuff doesn't mean we should be questioning his sanity level.

[Outshined_One]

I love the fact that the Cubs have gotten us to a point where we're basically questioning whether or not Lou Piniella has senile dementia.

[Sammy Sofa]

I love the fact that the Cubs have gotten us to a point where we're basically questioning whether or not Lou Piniella has senile dementia.

 

No kidding.

 

I'm not a big fan of Lou, but this is pretty much how he's always sounded. The guy apparently has a pretty bad stutter he has to work to correct.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The guys 65 years old. Senility, Alsheimers, dementia and what not will rarely kick in until the 80's.

[Tracer Bullet]

I haven't listened to a lot of the press conferences, but when I've heard him, I've never questioned his sanity. It's when he makes all his stupid in-game moves that I question his sanity.

[Hawk4Hall]

It's not Lou's fault. If you want to point fingers you can point right at Jim Hendry for putting together one of the worst benches in recent Cub history, and a bad bullpen. Once the injuries hit the bench was exposed.

 

Lou may made some head scratching moves, but he's not to blame for the season.

[jiml60]

I agree 100% with you - the blame for this season belongs on Hendry.

[Electron Blue]

I agree 100% with you - the blame for this season belongs on Hendry.

 

Seven game losing streaks are not the GMs fault, though. It's a combination of the players' fault and bad luck.

 

Obviously, Hendry has made moves worthy of criticism this year, but let's not get caught up in the losing streak madness.

[jiml60]

My comment is not coming from the recent losing streak - the losing streak is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

 

Hendry signed a worthless Aaron Miles, traded for Gregg and Heilman - none of those guys are an upgrade over the players they replaced. I'm not going to get sentimental and wish for Kerry Wood or DeRosa to be back with the Cubs but it is obvious that Hendry made the wrong moves. As Hawk4Hall pointed out, now that the injuries have hit the team, the weak bench has exposed this team. Hendry is good at tossing around money and making a big trade here and there but constructing a balanced major league roster has never been his strong suit.

 

I would hate to see where this team would be if the Tribune never had to put the Cubs up for sale and decided to spend the next owner's money. Putting together a competent roster is the GMs responsibility and Hendry has failed Lou in that respect.

[Gingerballs Lives]

My comment is not coming from the recent losing streak - the losing streak is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

 

Hendry signed a worthless Aaron Miles, traded for Gregg and Heilman - none of those guys are an upgrade over the players they replaced. I'm not going to get sentimental and wish for Kerry Wood or DeRosa to be back with the Cubs but it is obvious that Hendry made the wrong moves. As Hawk4Hall pointed out, now that the injuries have hit the team, the weak bench has exposed this team. Hendry is good at tossing around money and making a big trade here and there but constructing a balanced major league roster has never been his strong suit.

 

I would hate to see where this team would be if the Tribune never had to put the Cubs up for sale and decided to spend the next owner's money. Putting together a competent roster is the GMs responsibility and Hendry has failed Lou in that respect.

 

Exactly. If Hendry hadn't been able to spend gobs of money the past couple of offseasons, is there any doubt that the Cubs would have finished in the toilet? Imagine if he had to work with a $75-80 million payroll. The results would be epic, and not in a good way.

[Sosa21MVP]

IF HENDRY DIDN'T SPEND HALF HIS BUDGET ON DORITO'S THEN WE'D STILL HAVE WOOD & DEROSA AMIRITE?

 

/recent wave of cubs.com style analysis

[dew1679666265]

Exactly. If Hendry hadn't been able to spend gobs of money the past couple of offseasons, is there any doubt that the Cubs would have finished in the toilet? Imagine if he had to work with a $75-80 million payroll. The results would be epic, and not in a good way.

 

Most teams below an $80 million payroll aren't that good. Teams with an $80 million or less payroll last year had a winning percentage of .474.

 

Of the teams in a $73-80 million payroll range last year, they had a .469 winning percentage last year.

[Little Slide Rooter]

why are we blaming Lou and Hendry and even Perry for this load of rubbish? Theres really nothing they can do at this point. If we were losing a bunch of 6-4 or 7-5 games being blown by poor bullpen management or leaving a starter in too long, then that would be one thing, but right now, the only people to blame are the players, more specificly, the offense. They're simple not doing anything. Its not like were some 1990'sesque garbage lineup, we have capable bunch of hitters . Even teams like the Pirates and Natinals can scrape up a few runs. These guys arent, and its been 6 straight games. Its a slump. An awful slump, but a slump, and I like to think that good ole Wrigley will wake em up, especially facing a legitamately bad team.

[Cubbie Swagger]

It almost seems like he's given up, too. I keep waiting for him to get pissed off in the postgame but every day the losing streak gets longer he just sounds like he cares less and less. "Well uhh... we'll try to a few other things... the pitching was..uhhh.. play...but we need to score more runs". At least show that you still care. Get fired up. I feel like he is totally drained, career wise.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. I haven't see him argue alot of calls, or get excited for any reason at all (good or bad). It's like he just shows up at the ballpark and goes home because that's his job... but he doesn't put any effort into it.

 

I should say that I still have quite a bit of faith in Piniella. Just because he's said some questionable stuff doesn't mean we should be questioning his sanity level.

 

It's got nothing to do with him saying questionable stuff. He has made in-game moves that don't make any baseball sense whatsoever, no matter who you ask.

 

It's not Lou's fault. If you want to point fingers you can point right at Jim Hendry for putting together one of the worst benches in recent Cub history, and a bad bullpen. Once the injuries hit the bench was exposed.

 

Lou may made some head scratching moves, but he's not to blame for the season.

 

I never blamed anyone for anything. This wasn't a thread about who was responsible for the Cubs failure. I was basically just responding to all the "Lou's a freaking idiot" talk that you see on the boards. I was simply acknowledging that he had made alot of brainless moves, and suggested that it might not even be under his control. I do agree that Hendry is responsible for our struggles this year. I decided in the offseason that our 2009 roster was a downgrade from the 2008 edition. I think the only thing we can be satisfied with is the absence of Bob Howry in our bullpen.

 

why are we blaming Lou and Hendry and even Perry for this load of rubbish? Theres really nothing they can do at this point. If we were losing a bunch of 6-4 or 7-5 games being blown by poor bullpen management or leaving a starter in too long, then that would be one thing, but right now, the only people to blame are the players, more specificly, the offense. They're simple not doing anything. Its not like were some 1990'sesque garbage lineup, we have capable bunch of hitters . Even teams like the Pirates and Natinals can scrape up a few runs. These guys arent, and its been 6 straight games. Its a slump. An awful slump, but a slump, and I like to think that good ole Wrigley will wake em up, especially facing a legitamately bad team.

 

I'm certainly not. I wasnt at all referring to our losing streak. However, IMHO, Lou single-handedly lost a few games for us early in the year as a result of his management of our pitchers. Our losing streak is entirely due to lack of performance by our players.

[17 Seconds]

I seriously feel like Lou is one bad loss away from saying "eff it, I'm done. I quit". Even earlier in the season when we had that one rough spell he was getting pissed... really pissed. Right now he just continues to sit on his ass in the dugout with the same blank stae as things fall apart on the field. Dempster walks in 2 runs and he just sits there. No emotion whatsoever. Earlier in the season he'd have either pulled him right then, or at least gotten pissed off and showed some emotion. Now he's just like "oh well, an 8 game losing streak isn't much worse than a 7 game losing streak."

 

Either way, I bet we're witnessing the end of the Lou era here. I don't see him coming back next season if we miss the playoffs this year.

[17 Seconds]

Yup... after tonight's masterful performance by Lou I'm convinced he's done. I mean he's still there managain, but not really. I can't wait until he's gone. He has no clue what he's doing.

 

Let Ascanio hit for himself? Sure!

 

Bring in the worst reliever on the team when we're trying to win for the first time in over a week? Sure!

[17 Seconds]

Now after a blown call Lou blows up! Oh wait, no he doesn't. He slowly walks out, makes a half hearted attempt to argue, cracks jokes with the other team, and slowly walks back to the dugout. He just doesn't care.

[Illini Iceman]

Now after a blown call Lou blows up! Oh wait, no he doesn't. He slowly walks out, makes a half hearted attempt to argue, cracks jokes with the other team, and slowly walks back to the dugout. He just doesn't care.

 

Now Ozzie Guillen, that's a guy that cares!! We know because he blows his top and acts like an idiot. Let's argue and get thrown out of a game. Maybe throw at the other team just for the heck of it. That will turn this losing streak around!

 

I thought the argument was that Lou is no good for this team because he is too uptight and makes panic decisions? Now the argument is that he not uptight enough and doesn't care?

[17 Seconds]

Now after a blown call Lou blows up! Oh wait, no he doesn't. He slowly walks out, makes a half hearted attempt to argue, cracks jokes with the other team, and slowly walks back to the dugout. He just doesn't care.

 

Now Ozzie Guillen, that's a guy that cares!! We know because he blows his top and acts like an idiot. Let's argue and get thrown out of a game. Maybe throw at the other team just for the heck of it. That will turn this losing streak around!

 

I thought the argument was that Lou is no good for this team because he is too uptight and makes panic decisions? Now the argument is that he not uptight enough and doesn't care?

 

I'm saying right now he doesn't care. And when I say "he doesn't care" it's obviously hyperbole. Of course he cares, but it really seems like the fire is gone. Freel clearly got the out at 3rd and Lou barely even argues. WTF is that?

 

Oh and I love how we are PHing with Zambrano because we just HAVE to keep Patton as the extra pitcher on the roster.... even though he hasn't pitched in 2 weeks.

[Hawk4Hall]

Tonight reminded me of when Lou was in Tampa Bay. I still don't fault him for the season being where it's at, but this game certainly wasn't managed well.

[circlecitycub]

Lou was horrible tonight. The bench management was poor and he definitely should have argued a little more on the piss poor strike zone. Hell, Lilly got tossed and he wasn't even in the game. If his health is a concern then he needs to send Trammel or Rothschild out because that can make a difference. I noticed after Lilly's ejection the ump was calling the corner a lot more.