Dr. Lou turns to psychology
Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:43 AM
Cubs manager Lou Piniella has learned that not all is fair in baseball. Now he’s not complaining nor should he be with his annual salary. But it doesn’t change the reality that winning 56 percent of regular season games and division titles in his two seasons in Chicago is thoroughly negated by the Cubs’ 0-6 postseason record.
Baseball is designed as a marathon and decided by a sprint. Piniella’s Cubs have showed a champion’s endurance but no burst for the October sprint. And now Piniella is talking about change. He says he’s not a Zen guy but he’s ready to read Phil Jackson’s books. Piniella is going to read about John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. He is even willing to tackle some sports psychology.
Piniella admits he is “searching” for a “little different approach” to bring to his team, which is trying to end a 101-year championship drought.
Of course, no present-day player on the Cubs cares a whit about curses and droughts, despite the daily flogging of said history through a long Chicago summer. There is no escape, though, for Piniella and Cubs’ management until a championship finally comes to Wrigley Field.
So Piniella is ready to embrace new ideas and that can’t be bad. The Cubs stunned all of baseball, most notably their opponents, the Los Angeles Dodgers, with their listless play in the NLDS.
Nothing could be worse for fans of the Cubs after such an embarrassment than to hear a leader in denial. Piniella is if nothing else, blunt. And a few of his players have already been the subjects of his comments this offseason: Alfonso Soriano needs patience. Ryan Theriot needs aggression in baserunning and one of his starting pitchers, presumably Ryan Dempster needs to be reminded to throw strikes. No Dr. Lou here, just bold commentary on key players who fell short in the October spotlight.
Here’s a question: Where in his new reading list will Piniella find the chapter on how to deal with Milton Bradley, whom the Cubs gave a three-year, $30 million contract? Jim Hendry has a terrific track record as Cubs general manager but signing Bradley is a puzzler. Only once in his career has Bradley played more than 94 games in the field. Until last year, he had never hit 20 homers nor driven in 70 runs in a season. Has such modest production ever resulted in such a hefty contract?
Saddled with an expensive 2008 flop in Kosuke Fukudome, Piniella must make Bradley work in 2009. Fairness doctrine: Fukudome could do well to look at Kaz Matsui, a disaster for two years in New York only to blossom in years three and four in the majors.
And Bradley must work in the clubhouse that Piniella was often told, “was the nicest in baseball. And maybe one that’s not quite so nice…I’m not saying Bradley specifically.” But Piniella’s intent is clear. Bradley brings an edge -- occasionally too sharp for his own good -- that the manager thinks could liven up the October sludge into which the Cubs have been mired.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. I GUESS THE ARBITRATION NUMBER TO WATCH…is Ryan Howard’s. After winning the NL home run and RBI titles for the second time in three years, Howard filed for $18 million. Anyone think they would see the day when arbitration is a better bet than free agency? Well, Marvin Miller has a right to smile. For arbitration is Miller’s legacy, more so than free agency. Forgotten over time is that Miller was shrewd enough to insert the arbitration process into negotiations for free agency. Owners, unaware of arbitration’s impact, had no objection. Over time, the owners have tried to minimize or eliminate arbitration. Their only success was to raise the entry level to three years of service time.
Howard is sending a message to many of his peers, young players who have signed long-term contracts and instead of holding on to their arbitration rights. Many agents have criticized those players, the same life forms that would abandon said player at first sign of injury. But Howard is the poster boy for those agents -- retain your rights, put up numbers and cash in. The Phillies can’t be happy with the escalation of Howard’s salaries but they had every chance to strike a pre-emptive deal.
2. DID I REALLY SEE THIS? Jason Varitek met directly with Red Sox owner John Henry over the weekend. Varitek walked away from arbitration and a likely $10 million deal in search of one more big payday. He wanted a Jorge Posada deal. What Varitek misread was the market for a 37-year-old (in April) who has caught nearly 1,300 games, had a poor offensive season in 2008 and would cost another team its first round pick in the draft. So, who was it that advised Varitek that he should chase rainbows? And who was it that Varitek left behind to meet with Henry in the hopes of salvaging any sort of a deal? None other than Scott Boras.
3. DOSE OF REALITY…in the San Jose Mercury News with a terrific story about the economic downturn and its immediate impact on ticket sales for the Bay Area MLB franchises. One premium season ticket holder to Giants’ games tried selling his seats to a list of 25 previous users of his seats. None accepted. The esteemed Andy Dolich, COO of the 49ers and former marketing guru of the A’s, uttered the dreaded phrase “non-essential” about sports. To paraphrase our new leader, is there anyone left who doesn’t believe America is in economic peril? After peaking at 29,000 season tickets in the first years of their new ballpark, my understanding is that the Giants will be lucky to reach 20,000 this year.
4. WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC 2…is closer than most realize. Yet, this event is not automatic for the best players. So many have already passed and just today we read that the Angels don’t want Vladimir Guerrero participating and the Cubs have concerns about Rich Harden’s possible play for Canada. All this raises the question: How can baseball truly hope for reinstatement in the Olympics if it can’t get the vast majority of top players to take part in the WBC?
5. OVER THE COURSE OF 2009…this blog will morph into a combination of baseball, tennis, March Madness and eventually, the NFL. So let’s get a head start. Watching the early days of the Australian Open, I have been struck by the vastly improved score bar on ESPN2. Last year’s illegible mess has been redesigned in a sensible sleek manner and moved from the top to the bottom of the screen. Why? The point is that neither ESPN2 nor any other network can block courtside ads. No Grand Slam will permit their sponsors being denied TV exposure by a score bar. So ESPN2 moved its bar. One more time: Does anyone still doubt the depth of the relationship between business and television in sports?
