Right man for job? Sir-tainly
The day before the season opener this year, Ken Griffey Jr. saw a familiar face in the Cincinnati clubhouse and couldn't figure out why.
''Chicago?'' he said, turning over the media credential to get a better look. ''Oooooh. You got Lou all year? You're going to have fun. Sir.''
(AP)
Sir. To those who have been around first-year Cubs manager Lou Piniella for any length of time, especially as members of the media, ''sir'' has a whole different meaning when uttered by Piniella -- similar to steam before the hot lava.
During my first two years as a beat writer covering the Mariners in 1997 and '98 -- particularly the first year -- I got lots of ''sirs.'' In fact, I thought it was pretty cool -- you know, sign of respect for the new guy and all that. Until the first eruption, anyway.
The steady stream of ''sirs'' lessened by about midseason, sometime after a relaxed conversation that started with this exchange: ''Lou, do I piss you off?''
''Yeah, sometimes.''
Flash forward a decade, and the ''sirs'' are much fewer and farther between -- which probably says more about a certain baseball writer than necessarily the manager.
But this much is clear after the first full season around Piniella following nine years of only occasional contact: He has changed. Evolved is probably a better word, actually.
He has said it throughout this season -- he has mellowed, he has more patience, and so on. Same stuff he used to say in Seattle about every March or April.
But whether it's the fact he's on the verge of collecting Social Security, or the fact he spent three years with a bunch of kids in an impossible situation in Tampa Bay, it seems genuine this time -- he hasn't even been seen with a cigarette all season (another annual resolution he seemed to blow along with the bullpen's first save opportunity).
Make no mistake: He still can bore a hole through a questioner when his eyes narrow with the intensity of a tough loss. And nothing about his obsession with winning has softened with the increase in gray.
But the work he has done this year might be as much a testament to his experience and evolution as to his baseball intelligence and ability to drive players. When veterans bristled at the new guy's methods early in the year, he backed off the harsher public rhetoric. He got a lot out of young players this season, in particular young pitchers -- one of the biggest criticisms against him earlier in his managing career.
Could the Cubs have found a better manager for this team at this time?
No, sir.