Sports: This is why I love Lou Piniella

Cubs pitcher Jason Marquis has told team management (though the media, of course) that he’d rather be traded than suffer the indignity of going to the bullpen. And Cubs Manager Lou Piniella has responded the way Lou Piniella does when this sort of controversy comes up: He told Marquis that if he wants a spot on the rotation, he has to win it. Then Sweet Lou got angry:

Piniella was so upset that after being asked about Kerry Wood’s performance Saturday, the manager stopped in midsentence and turned the subject back to Marquis.

“You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does,” he said. “I’m not pleased with that comment. We’ve had a good camp, everybody’s getting an opportunity. Go out and win a spot in the rotation. Nobody is going to stand in your way if you do it. That’s the easy way out.”

Piniella reiterated he never said Marquis would go to the bullpen if he didn’t make the rotation, but the Cubs would have no other option if they couldn’t trade him. Marquis is owed $16.25 million over the final two seasons of a three-year, $21 million deal.

This is why the Cubs are winners in a way that they could never be under the disastrous reign of former manager Dusty Baker. First, Marquis would never have had to go to the media, because the “stars” on a Dusty Baker team know that almost never are taken out of the lineup for a such a trifling reason as not being able to play very well. Second, Dusty loooooooved his superstars and would never express anger at them … until it because apparent (as it eventually did with Sammy Sosa) that their playing days were over.