PEORIA, Ariz. -- Lou Piniella has not decided whether to come back in 2011, and the Cubs haven't decided whether he will be invited back.
While Piniella has opened the door a crack to his return, it doesn't appear that the Cubs are willing to let him walk right in.
"If he feels well and wants to keep going, we'll have an interesting conversation," Cubs president Crane Kenney said Thursday. "He's done a great job. He's raised the bar and that's a little bit of the burden we all carry now.
"As I tell everybody in our organization, it's a lot better than being picked to finish fourth or fifth and having everybody talk about failure all the time."
Photo: Lou Piniella's future with the Cubs beyond this season remains undecided. (Christian Peterson/Getty)
Piniella's health appears to be an issue in the decision-making process. He turns 67 in August.
Does Piniella "feel well?"
"Last time I checked, I'm not on life support," he said, laughing.
"No," he said. "I was tired after last year. It was, uh, a trying year, and we'll leave it at that. My health is good. God has blessed me in that aspect. As I've said before, I don't want my situation to be any kind of distraction at all. I want the focus on the baseball team, the players here, our won-lost record, our attendance- that's the focus of this year, nothing more and nothing less.
And as for the "interesting conversation" with Piniella?
"I have a nice interesting conversation with Crane every day," Piniella said.
Piniella said he's "perfectly comfortable" with his situation, and that he'd do the best job he could, "whether I was signed here for one year or five years. It would make no difference," he said. "My job is to get this team to win, and that's what I'm going to focus on, and nothing more."
If Piniella is not back, the intrigue runs thick. Triple-A Iowa manager Ryne Sandberg is waiting on-deck, or the Cubs could try to convince Yankees manager Joe Girardi to return to the organization he grew up with.
Piniella said "when this year is over, we'll see what happens." Kenney said "We will all sit down at one point and talk about how the season went."
That would be the Ricketts family, Kenney and general manager Jim Hendry, who hired Piniella after the 2006 season, when the Cubs finished with the worst record in the National League.
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I think if Lou Piniella is not resigned at the end of 2010 the Cubs must hire Joe Girardi.
Girardi has proven to be a good manager in my opnion.
He lead the Yankees to the World series title last year.
He is a intelligent manager.
He should get the Cubs job if the Yankees don't offer him an extension.
102 Years is long enough waiting for a Championship.
Let's wait and see after 2010.
Go Cubs!
WHY is there so much hate for Pinella??? All the guy's done is lead us to 3 consecutive winning records, which is about the only time I can remember any manager doing that since Durocher. Pinealla is one HELL of a baseball man....and you haters don't know a damn about the game. Is it his fault that Sorriano strikes out with the bases loaded? Is it Pinella's fault that Marmol can't throw a strike in the 9th inning with the Cubs up by one run? You so-called "experts" need to keep your mouths shut and let the guy manage....how may World Championships have YOU won, other than your fantasy leagues in your mama's basement, losers?? Maybe you'd like to dig up Herman Franks' corpse and have him manage here again.....
The Cubs are going NOWHERE!I go back to the 50's and this team now reminds me of the 1970-72 Cubs,a team that grew up in the 60's,came up short in '69 and were kept together hoping that THE YEAR might come. Those were good Cub teams, but they couldn't beat the Pirates of that era and they grew old and were broken up. This Cub team is relying on players who are "on the other side of the hill".Even "Big Z" (for Zero in big games),while only 28, has thrown a lot of pitches over the years -- mainly because he walks too many batters -- and it's obvious that his velocity is not what it once was. Look at the ages of the big names. This team won't even match last year's W-L record and Lou will decide he'd rather spend summers with the grandkids and hauling in fish instead of relief pitchers.
LOL @ Thinking Joe girardi would leave the world champ yanks who will literally spend billions to win championships to come to the cubs who haven't won a WS in 101 years.Especially after the cubs passed girardi up to get lou piniella the 1st time.
In hindsight I wish the cubs hired Girardi(Even though I wanted piniella at the time) I personally think his micro managing ways could of at least won the cubs a playoff series or at least a game.He would of gotten more out of the cubs.Piniella seems clueless and old at times.
I'd rather have pinella over sandberg though I hope the cubs dont make him the manager next year
Hey Paul, you aren't really entertaining the idea that Joe Girardi would actually want to return to the Cub organization, are you?
As I said earlier with the cubsd relievers they nned 5 or 6 runs to win. Today the had 8 0 lead and now in the 8 th its 8-4 . What we need is another Gregg Hendry to loose this game.
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Let's talk 2011 if the Cubs WIN World Series.
I agree with Leo. We could have had Girardi, who really wanted to be the cubs manager. Instead we get some old prima donna who could care less. Girardi doesn't need the cubs anymore. He is on top now. Good for him. Please leave Lou.
If it wasnt for Silva the cubs would have a nohitter going into the 8th.. Another beaut of a trade for Hendry..
Please LOU leave this year.. As always when the younger guys play in preseason and excel and give fans excitement ,and produce, Lou will still sit them on the bench or even worse send them down to the minors , while he starts and plays Sorry Soriano and Fuku and Fontenot and Soto.
We all now Ramirez doesnt take spring trainig seriouly and will bat in the low 200's until the end of april, and so will Soriano and Soto. Runners will continue to run on Soto and the bullpen will have NO answer. Cubs will need 5 runs a game to win, and they wont get it with Sorriano, Fuku , Soto and Fontenot.
Please let Loo leave for his overdue retirement so he can drink vodka all day and play the ponies--his real passions. Who's the next manager would not be an issue if Hendry had hired the younger, smarter Girardi when he had the chance instead of boring, past-his-prime, passive Loo. And Sam is right, Paul Sullivan has been sitting in the sun too long if he thinks Girardi would now leave the Yankees for the team that rejected him in favor of Lazy Loo. Crane kenney believes in the curse and brought priests and goats to the playoffs in 2008. He must go. Wake up Ricketts family, and hire serious baseball people.
I want to know why Crane Kenney still has a job with the Cubs. Does he have naked pictures of someone?
But yes, very scary that CK has a say in baseball decision when he was held at arms length until October 2006 and was only put in charge in 2003 as a figure head. MacPhail still reported to Dennis FitzSimons no matter what Mr. Self Promoter Crane Kenney tells anyone.
Yea like Joe is going to leave the Yankees for the Cubs. Hahahahah!
What Lou really means is that he'll have to ask Alfonso Soriano if it's okay for him to continue managing. But seriously, how scared are you that empty suit Crane Kenney is still involved in baseball decisions? The answer should be "very."