14 Days Until Spring Training: Lou Piniella

Before he even arrived in the Bronx, Lou Piniella had lived something close to a full life in baseball. He signed with the Cleveland Indians as a soon-to-be nineteen year old in June 1962. Five months later, he was drafted away by the Washington Senators, under the old first year draft system. Nearly two years later, the Senators traded him to Baltimore. That September he made his Major League debut, appearing in four games and going hitless in his only at bat. It would be a long time before Sweet Lou would see the Majors again, but not too long before he'd need his suitcase again.

After spending all of 1965 in the minors, the Orioles shipped him back to Cleveland, the organization with which he originally signed, prior to the 1966 season. He languished in their system for three more years, finally returning to the Bigs with five more hitless at bats in six September 1968 games. By the end of the season Piniella was 25 years old, had spent seven seasons in professional baseball, had changed organizations four times, and had all of seven Major League plate appearances to his credit. And he still wasn't done stamping his passport.

The Seattle Pilots selected him in the expansion draft following the '68 season. With Major League baseball adding four new teams for the 1969 season, the number of Big League jobs available had increased by twenty percent. Yet Piniella couldn't even stick with the Pilots, and on the eve of the season the Pilots flipped him to a fellow expansion club, the Kansas City Royals. Finally given a chance to play, Piniella made good on the opportunity by capturing Rookie of the Year honors. He was a regular with the Royals for five seasons, posting solid if unspectacular numbers, making an All-Star team, and leading the AL in doubles in 1972.

Following his poor 1973 season, the Yankees dealt for the 30 year old outfielder. He spent the next eleven years as a corner outfielder and designated hitter, winning five division titles, four pennants, and two World Series in the process. Though he didn't walk much, and he wasn't much a power threat, Lou could hit. He was totally dedicated to his craft as a hitter, obsessing over his stance and his swing, which produced a .295 batting average over his time in pinstripes. He also batted .305 over his 44 post-season games with the club.

While not noted for his defense, Piniella made a critical play in the 1978 AL East playoff game against the Red Sox. The Yankees clung to a one run lead in the bottom of the ninth. With one out and Rick Burleson on first, Jerry Remy came to the plate with the potent combination of Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski waiting behind him. The early autumn sun hung low in the late afternoon sky, bathing right field in a blinding sunlight. Facing Yankee fireman Goose Gossage, Remy lined a single to Piniella in right. Unable to pick up the ball and catch it on the fly, Piniella still managed to successfully deke Burleson, feigning that he had a bead on it. As a result, Burleson held up. By the time it was clear that the ball fell in, Burleson had to hold at second. Piniella managed to keep the tying run from reaching third with less than two outs. When Jim Rice followed by flying out to deep right, Burleson managed only to advance to third, rather than score the tying run. The rest is history.

As Piniella's career wound down, he began to function as an unofficial hitting coach for the club. When he retired two and a half months into the 1984 season, the team officially added him to the coaching staff. He spent the next year and a half learning under managers Yogi Berra and Billy Martin, and took the helm for the 1986 season. He spent the next two seasons as Yankee manager, going 179-145, finishing in second place in 1986 and fourth the following year. Even in those early years, Piniella showed flashes of the temper that has made him a highlight reel favorite over his twenty two seasons managing in the Big Leagues.

Typical of the Yankees during that time, there was a major shake up following the 1987 season. Billy Martin was brought back for a fifth and final go-round as Yankee skipper and Piniella was promoted to General Manager. As GM, Piniella managed to re-sign Dave Righetti and signed free agents Jack Clark and John Candelaria, both of whom were key contributors to the 1988 team. In attempt to bolster the pitching staff he acquired veteran Rich Dotson from the White Sox. Dotson was a disaster in New York, and came at the price of decent young outfielder Dan Pasqua, whose left handed swing was tailor made for Yankee Stadium.

Piniella was not responsible for the disastrous and infamous Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps trade executed that July. By the end of May, unhappy with his role as GM, Piniella resigned, staying on in a scouting and advisory capacity. Less than four weeks later he would be back in the dugout as Martin's self destructive behavior drove him from the job he loved for the final time. Piniella took over a team that was 40-28 and just 2.5 games out of first. They went just 45-48 the rest of the way, finishing only 3.5 games out of first but in fifth place. As was too often the case in the eighties, the Yankees just didn't have enough pitching to get it done. Piniella was let go for the second time in as many seasons.

He spent 1989 as a broadcaster during the team's first season on MSG Network, then took a job as the Cincinnati Reds manager, winning the World Series in his first season. After three years in Cincy, Piniella moved on to Seattle. In his first year he led them to their first winning season in the their seventeen year history. Two years later he led them to their first playoff berth, bouncing the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS and earning Manager of the Year honors. He captured another division title in 1997, the Wild Card berth in 2000, and led his club to a Major League record 116 victories in 2001, snagging him his second Manager of the Year award. His club was eliminated from post-season play by the Yankees in both 2000 and 2001.

After finishing his tenth season as M's manager, it was time for a change. Piniella returned to his native Tampa to manage the Devil Rays. Because he was still under contract to Seattle they were entitled to compensation. As a result the Rays shipped newly minted Yankee Randy Winn to Seattle for a minor leaguer. The nicest that can be said of Lou's tenure in TB was that they didn't finish last in 2004, the first time in franchise history that happened. Unhappy that ownership wasn't investing money in the team as they had promised him, Piniella departed after the 2005 season. He spent the next year working for FOX, then became manager of the Cubs, winning division titles in 2007 and 2008, and earning his third Manager of the Year award.

Lou Piniella has had a full life in the game, with 2010 marking his 49th year in professional baseball. Just as we saw with Gene Michael, Piniella has served the Yankees as a player, coach, manager, general manager, advisor, and announcer. Though its been more than twenty years since he was a part of the organization, his Yankee career may not be over yet. It was rumored that the Yankees chose the Cubs to play Yankee Stadium's initial exhibition games to remind Piniella of his ties to the organization. Hank Steinbrenner has said that he wants to hire Piniella as an advisor when his managerial career wraps. It shouldn't be too long before that happens as Piniella is nearly 67 and under contract only through the end of the 2010 season.

Lunchtime Links

As Chad Jennings pointed out this morning, it's going to take a lot to top last Monday, but there are a few odds and ends (some from over the weekend) worth checking out.

Over the weekend, E.J. from The Yankee Universe advocated making Brett Gardner the Yankees everyday center fielder.

On the other hand, Joe Pawlikowski from River Ave. Blues compared Gardner to Scott Podsednik, warning against using projections to predict his production in 2010. Unfortunately, the latter of these two posts provides the more realistic assessment.

Mark Carig from the Star-Ledger asked a person who used to do statistical analysis for a major league club for their reaction to the Granderson deal. The first sentence: "What a deal".

According to the Daily News, the Yankees and the Cubs could be trading partners. Gardner or Melky Cabrera are the likely targets since the Cubbies are in need of a center fielder, but it's not clear what the Yankees would want in return. Carlos Zambrano's name was mentioned but the asking price was reportedly "high". Even higher is his salary, so file this one under "Things We Aren't Buying".

Joe Posnanski saw Up In The Air over the weekend and wrote an epic post about movies and travel inspired by it.

This morning, Lar from Wezen-Ball dug up an interview with an ex-Yankee from the well-respected Weekly World News.

Bill Madden says that their agents have left Johnny Damon, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay out in the cold by mis-reading the free agent market. Easy there Bill, it's not even Christmas yet.

The Post says that Cashman is hoping to acquire a starter by New Years and names Jason Marquis, Joel Pineiro and Ben Sheets as targets. MLBTR adds a few more.

Sports Illustrated has an interview with Peter Gammons.

Game 93: Solsbury Hill

The path that leads to playing Major League Baseball can be quite winding and treacherous, as both of tonight's starting pitchers (and former Cubs prospects) could probably tell you, although for very different reasons.

Despite being one year younger than Rich Hill, Sergio Mitre reached the Major Leagues two years earlier. Mitre enrolled in San Diego City College in 1999 and was taken in the 7th round of the 2001 Draft by the Cubs. He was the second player in the organization to reach the Big Leagues out of that draft, behind only the highly touted Mark Prior. He made two starts and a relief appearance in 2003, after being called up from Double-A West Tennessee and actually began the 2004 season on the 25 man roster before being sent down to Triple-A Iowa.

Hill, meanwhile, attended the University of Michigan and was chosen in the 4th round of the 2002 Draft, also by the Cubbies. A left-hander born in the Boston area, Hill was always known for his devastating curveball and gaudy strikeout rates, boasting double digit K/9 ratios at every level of minor league ball before being called up to the Bigs in 2005.

The two pitchers were briefly teammates on the '05 Iowa Cubs, when Mitre was being shuttled between Chicago and the farm team to fill in gaps in the rotation and Hill was a highly regarded prospect, striking out 190 batters in 130 2/3 innings between A, AA and AAA that year.

The following offseason, Mitre was part of a package sent to the Marlins, along with Ricky Nolasco and Renyel Pinto, in exchange Juan Pierre who had only one year left on his contract. Mitre made decent contributions to the Marlins, but both Nolasco and Pinto have outperformed expectations and became solid contributors at various times.

Hill spent the 2006 season between AAA and the Majors, throwing 95 innings to a 4.17 ERA, but seemed to truly break out in '07. Over 195 innings, he struck out 183 and had a WHIP of 1.195, compiling an 11-8 record. He began the 2008 season with the team, but after walking 18 batters in 19 2/3 innings, he was sent back to Iowa. Rich never made another appearance with the Cubs and was finally traded to Baltimore last offseason for the ever ubiquitous "player to be named later".

Mitre's issues can be traced back to one major injury, which lead to Tommy John surgery last year, after which he was released by the Marlins. On the other hand, Hill blames his struggles on a host of smaller things:

It's been incredibly frustrating. It just seems like I had all of my injuries all at once and there were little things. There were no tears or problems that required back surgery but just little things that messed with my delivery and my mechanics. I've also made some adjustments.

Mitre had his surgery just over one year ago, but has seemingly made a quick recovery. He's needed only 9 starts to ascend from Trenton to the Bronx. The sinkerballer issues few walks and doesn't collect many strikeouts either, but has had better results than ever since coming aboard with the Yanks.

The same can't be said for Hill, who has had a rough go thus far with the O's. He's walked 33 while striking out 43 in 52 1/3 innings (11 starts) leading to an ugly 7.22 ERA. His most recent start was solid, however, lasting 6 innings, giving up two runs and walking only one batter. Hill has never faced anyone in the current Yankee line-up.

Mitre hasn't pitched in the Big Leagues since 2007, and has never faced the Orioles. So it would seem like a good opportunity for each climb the hill and get a fresh start.

To keeping silence I resigned,
My friends would think I was a nut,
Turning water into wine,
Open doors would soon be shut.

So I went from day to day,
Though my life was in a rut,
'til I thought of what I'd say,
Which connection I should cut.

Pirates Pitcher Gets Win For Nats Over Houston

Wait, what?

The Nats and 'Stros finished a game yesterday that had been suspended on May 5th due to rain. The winning pitcher was Joel Hanrahan, who now pitches for the Pirates. The winning run was scored by Nyjer Morgan, who played for the Pirates when the game began. Morgan was pinch running for Elijah Dukes, who is currently in AAA or prison. I'm not sure which.

Deadspin has all the zany details; here's the box score.

Weird things like this happen from time. On August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood started in centerfield for the Mets, batting third against the Cubs. This was before lights were installed at Wrigley Field, so it was an afternoon game.

Youngblood went 1 for 2 with 2 RBI before getting lifted for Mookie Wilson in the fourth. Youngblood was removed because he'd been traded to the Expos for the ever popular player to be named later. Youngblood left Wrigley, hopped a plane to Philly, where the Expos were playing that night, and entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning. In his only at bat, he singled in the seventh, becoming the only Major Leauger ever to record a hit for two different teams in two different cities in the same day. To boot, both hits came off future Hall of Famers: barely literate drug-smuggling Canadian Ferguson Jenkins and the possibly anti-semitic and all-around crazy Steve Carlton.

You Fackers got any other stories?

Breaking News: Peavy to ChiSox Staying Put

Wow two Breaking News stories in a row. And this time it's real news.

With a hat tip to RAB, both ESPN and SI are reporting that the 2009 Padres Fire Sale has begun. Though it's not official yet, it looks like the long-rumored Jake Peavy to Chicago deal will happen. Except Peavy's going to the South Side rather than joining the Cubs. Tough luck Cubs fans.

This should make Ozzie Guillen slightly less insane for about 48 hours and may keep Jose Contreras down in AAA longer than expected. Or at least until the White Sox decide that Gavin Floyd is worse.

Maybe later in the season the Yankees can exploit John Moores' impending gigantic divorce settlement to pick up a usable piece for their bench.

[UPDATE 1:19 PM - Peavy's agent says not-so-fast. I'm sure this is nothing a lucrative extension can't solve]

[UPDATE 7:10 PM - Peavy exercises his veto. You gotta figure this only postpones the inevitable. I say he'll be gone by the end of the month.]