It's the end of an era as Cubs manager Lou Piniella has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2010 season. Piniella is in his fourth year at the helm for the Cubbies and his 23rd season as a big league skipper.
He started off his managing career with the Yankees ('86-'88) before moving on to Cincinnati, where he won his only World Series ring as a manager in 1990. After two more seasons with the Reds, Piniella moved on to Seattle, where he spent the next ten years. Then, Sweet Lou spent three years in Tampa and one as a broadcaster for FOX before coming to the Cubs in 2007.
His MLB career got underway when he was named the 1969 Rookie of the Year with the Royals. He had already played part of seasons with Baltimore and Cleveland, but '69 is the year he broke in for good. Piniella spent the bulk of his playing career ('74-'84) in left field for the Yankees.
Sweet Lou ranks 14th all time in managerial wins. The best year of his time with the Cubs was 2008, when he led his team to 97 wins and took home NL Manager of the Year honors.
To break down his time with the Cubs year-by-year (regular season):
2007: good
2008: great
2009: average
2010: not good (so far)
Post Season:
2007: Swept by Arizona in NLDS
2008: Swept by LA in NLDS
2009: No
2010: ???
Lou has a press conference coming up at 3:45 CT, which you can catch on MLB Network and most likely CSN Chicago.
David Kaplan tweets that Piniella is retiring and is upset that the news leaked. Lou is committed to trying to help this team win the rest of the season.
Now, it's time to talk about what effect this move will have on the 2011 Chicago Cubs! Paul Sullivan breaks down possible replacements Ryne Sandberg, Joe Girardi, Bob Brenly, Joe Torre, and Allan Trammell.
On a quick side note... the Cubs made a roster move today adding an arm from Iowa in Jeff Stevens. Mitch Atkins was sent back the other way. They play the Astros tonight at 7:05 in game two at Wrigley.
Look, we'll have more on Lou later!
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