I guess Chicago baseball fans are supposed to be all upset, because nobody wants to play for Lou Piniella or Ozzie Guillen.
In this week's edition of Sports Illustrated, the magazine asked 380 players the following question: Which manager do you least want to play for? Here are the top five (or should I say bottom five?):
1. Lou PIniella (Cubs) 26 percent
2. Ozzie Guillen (White Sox) 21 percent
3. Tony LaRussa (St. Louis) 10 percent
4. Joe Torre (L.A. Dodgers) 4 percent
5. Eric Wedge (Cleveland) 4 percent
I guess now I'm supposed to blame Guillen for San Diego ace pitcher Jake Peavy's decision not to come to Chicago. Sorry, not taking that bait. Peavy's on the DL now anyway, and thus, he's useless.
For whatever reason, some of the very best managers in the game made their way on to this list. Look at the resumes for these guys:
Piniella:
22 years
1,737 career wins
6 division titles
1 pennant
1 World Series title
Guillen:
6 years
472 career wins
2 division titles
1 pennant
1 World Series title
LaRussa:
31 years
2,502 career wins
10 division titles
5 pennants
2 World Series titles
Torre:
28 years
2,200 wins
12 division titles
6 pennants
4 World Series titles
Wedge:
7 years
524 wins
1 division title
OK, so Wedge doesn't have a pennant or a World Series to his credit. But those top four do. All told, these five men have combined for 7,438 wins, 31 division titles, 13 pennants and eight World Series titles. And players don't want to play for these guys? The players are idiots.
Funny how no player wants to play for a taskmaster whose job is to get the most out of his players. It's no different than an employee not wanting to work for a boss that will be demanding in a job. I was reading through that in both Chicago dallies, and my reaction was indifference at best. Who cares?