Lou Piniella on MLB Network and More

Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox joined Victor Rojas and Dan Plesac on the MLB Network earlier:

• Piniella joked that he was given orders by his GM that he had to mingle with other managers like Bobby at the meetings to try to get some info.
• Lou says that handling the media is a very important part of the manager's job today.
• The players are different now a days.
• Victor asked about Bradley. Piniella said that the biggest problem for the Cubs last year was not Milton Bradley, it was the injuries. He pointed out that he lost 12 players for 30 days or more, and 10 of those 12 were key people.
• Lou says he gets along with Milton, but the bigger market and clubhouse situation didn't work well for him.
• "We're trying to trade him, there's no question about that, and hopfully by the time the meetings are over or soon after that will happen."
• Carlos Marmol is the Cubs' closer. Piniella says Marmol likes the closers' role and he pitches better in the 9th inning. Marmol is hard to hit when he throws strikes. He takes it very serious and he wants to be out there.
• Piniella says that the players loved Bobby when Cox coached Lou in New York.

Some more updates:

• Jim Bowden says the Cubs and Phillies are chasing Bradon Lyon.
• Brendon Looper told Fox Sports that he is interested in pitching for the Cubs.
• Royals GM Dayton Moore was very surprised with the Bradley for Meche rumor, but he says that no player on the Royals is untouchable.
• Jayson Stark hears that the Rays haven't backed off on Bradley, but the 3-way trade with the Mets is dead.
• Two or three new teams are interested in Milton.
• The cash is still the biggest issue with Bradley to Tampa.
• Muskat reports that Carlos Zambrano has lost 15 pounds this winter and is sticking to his workouts. Big Z is in Guatemala helping to build a church and brining clothes to people there.
• Click for more on Lou's visit with the media earlier.

Don't forget to scroll down on the blog mainpage to read all of the reports from today! I will update this post with anything else I hear tonight, or I'll create a new post if something big comes out.