Piniella bringing his Lou-isville swagger
Manager wants Cubs to exhibit quiet confidence
MESA, Ariz. -- It didn't take long during his first spring training with the Seattle Mariners in 1993 for manager Lou Piniella to get angry enough at the attitudes he saw from a team of 98-game losers to order the clubhouse spread put behind lock and key.
No more ''country club'' accommodations, he groused.
Later that spring, after a lackluster exhibition loss on the road, the new manager simmered on the bus ride back, getting hotter as the bus inched through the rush-hour Phoenix traffic.
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''I should send you out there and let you get your asses beat by them,'' he shouted.
When he was done, he sat back down and told the driver to finish what suddenly became a silent ride home.
If the Cubs weren't sure what kind of manager they were getting when they hired Piniella to replace Dusty Baker in October, they'll find out in a hurry, starting today, if they're not ready to slam the brakes on what went wrong during last year's 96-loss season.
No matter how upbeat the mood Wednesday, no matter how big the smile as the new man in charge spoke on the eve of today's first workouts for pitchers and catchers.
''I'm pretty easy to play for,'' Piniella said. ''Look, I want the guys to have some fun, but I want them to work hard. We're here to win games, and we're here to prepare for a championship season. So that's what this camp will be about.''
As for all that stuff 14 years ago in Seattle, Piniella says he wouldn't do those things again.
But he also has made it clear since being hired that he won't tolerate less than full effort and commitment and that his expectations are as high as the price tag on the team's $300 million winter spending spree.
Expectations? There weren't many of those at any of his last three managing stops: Cincinnati, Seattle and Tampa Bay.
The Mariners, for example, barely even had a history. Yet they went from last place to a winning record in that first season under Piniella, and two years later, they were in the playoffs for the first time.
The Cubs, on the other hand, have a history. Which, of course, is one of the bigger problems for the new guy.
Yet here was Piniella, the guy who swore a few months ago he'd never heard of billy goats or curses, talking about ''Cubbie Swagger.''
Come again?
''That's something that we'll be talking about as spring training goes on with our players,'' he said.
Cubbie Swagger?
''By that, I want a nice quiet confidence about them that we're going to go out and compete every day and play good games and win a good majority of them,'' he said.
''You do that by being prepared, you do that by working hard. You do that by having a little passion for what you do, having a little pride in what you do and by going out and believing in your teammates.''
You could almost hear the air brakes on the team bus in the background.
More than six weeks remain before the Cubs will play a game with any meaning. And the full squad doesn't even report for spring training until next week. But a few of the pitchers and catchers who showed up to the Fitch Park practice facility Monday and Tuesday looked trimmer and fitter and spoke with natural spring confidence.
Catcher Michael Barrett, for instance, said he's 100 percent healthy and ready for spring after missing most of the final month of last season because of a severe cup shot that required surgery to ease an ''intrascrotal hematoma.'' And former ace Kerry Wood showed up 30 pounds lighter than at the end of last season, pronouncing his arm fit and strong as he prepares for a role in the bullpen.
Wood, for one, didn't think the ''Cubbie Swagger'' thing was so far-fetched, even in the face of the franchise's storied, losing past.
''We've got enough guys here, the new guys that weren't part of this last year,'' he said. ''And the guys that were part of this last year, they have something to prove.''
But Cubbie Swagger?
''What Lou brings to the table, that's what it's all about,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. ''It's all about his past of winning and developing confidence. He's taken clubs that weren't supposed to win and won.''
But even Piniella admits the swagger won't come until his team proves it can win a few games.
''That's something that doesn't happen overnight,'' he said. ''But all the good teams that I've managed have had a real quiet confidence about them. I like the word swagger, so we'll call it swagger. It's not a cockiness. It's just a confident demeanor that you'll go out there and compete and play hard and play to win.
''And if you do that over and over again, with the talent level that we have here, we're going to have a very successful season here, believe me.''