Posted on 10/17/2006 11:23:13 AM PDT by Mike Bates
Lou Piniella vows to make a winner of the Cubs, whose last World Series appearance came in 1945.
"Urgency is important," said Piniella, who was introduced Tuesday as the team's latest manager. "We're going to win here, and that's the end of the story."
Piniella agreed Monday to a three-year contract worth nearly $10 million, with an option for a fourth year.
"I'm just a little piece of the puzzle. My job is to come in here and unite this team," he said at a news conference.
Piniella said he was assured by general manager Jim Hendry that the Cubs would make moves necessary to improve the team. He brushed off a report that he wanted the Cubs to acquire embattled Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, saying there hadn't been "any discussions about A-Rod." Piniella was Rodriguez's first manager, with the Seattle Mariners in the mid-1990s.
SNIP
The 63-year-old Piniella has 19 years of major league managerial experience, including a World Series title with the Reds in 1990.
"We got the right man for the job," Hendry said.
Piniella replaces Dusty Baker, another veteran manager who came to the Cubs with a strong resume. Baker departed after four years when his contract was not renewed following a 66-96 last-place finish in the NL Central.
Now Piniella gets a chance where so many of his predecessors have come up short.
"I managed in a lot of places where winning was what was strived for," Piniella said after modeling his Cubs' No. 41 jersey.
And Piniella said he didn't believe in curses that many believe have kept the Cubs from winning a World Series for nearly 100 years. They last captured the World Series in 1908.
"No, no," Piniella said. "Curses. Come on."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
should be fun to watch... :\
I'd blame Prior for imploding and Gonzalez's error more so than Steve Bartman.
Piniella will live to regret this day. He's just entered a black hole from which no light can escape.
Piniella will have the honor of presiding over the hundred-year anniversary of the last Cubs' World Series title, come 2008...
If he lasts that long. . . .
Cub fans don't like hearing that kind of stuff. It's always some sort of conspiracy against them.
I hope the Cincinnati Reds trade Ken Griffey Jr to the Cubs. Pinella used to manage that bum in Seattle too.
He wore 14 for the Yankees. Is 14 retired for the Cubs?
Shades of Charlton Fisk (BoSox/Chisox 27/72)
Interesting. If you Image Google with "pinella", you get a lot of shots of lithe women in lingerie, leptodoptera, and Lou Pinella.
Oooops. That would be Ernie Banks.
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