(Lou Piniella’s movers arrive at Wrigley)
According to Baseball Toaster, Lou Piniella won some fans over at Piniella 101 this weekend, his All Lou seminar at the Cubs Convention, where he announced a new view of the Cubs bullpen and Larry Rothschild.
“I had Larry in Cincinnati, and he’s good. Don’t blame the injuries on him. He’s professional, organized and good with pitchers.” At some point, though, the pitching coach has to be held accountable for the failures, injuries included, of the staff. In a sly dig at Baker, though, Piniella redeemed himself, saying, “It’s a manager’s fault if he runs a guy out there and he throws 120 pitches ever game and gets hurt.” Needless to say, that statement drew much applause from the crowd.
(Cub Fan Ronnie Woo Woo practices the New Swagger with unidentified
Swag Hags)
The Toaster also quoted Piniella’s key note for the weekend, “It’s time to bring some swagger back to Chicago.” The Cubs MLB site expanded somewhat on Professor Piniella’s Theory of Scrapitude Swagitude:
“All good teams have a swagger, so we have to get that Cubs swagger going,” the new manager said during a “Piniella 101” session at the Cubs Convention on Saturday.
Piniella also promised a team that will be fundamentally sound, will hustle and be accountable. How will he enforce that?
“One thing I have is a pencil, which makes out the lineup card,” Piniella said. “My teams have never had that problem [of bad fundamentals]. Believe me, you’ll have a very sound club here in Chicago.”