Lou donates is MOY bonus to Cubs Care

[ryno4ever]

As winner of the award, Piniella earned $100,000, a bonus that was included in his contract, and he donated that money to the McCormick Foundation's Cubs Care, a charitable partner of the Chicago Cubs.

"My good fortune of being named the Manager of the Year will get spread around Chicago some," Piniella said. "I knew the award would be today, and I was thinking of the gift more than the award and I'm very happy the way this turned out."



And Lou talks about the past season:

"The fact that we went to the postseason two years in a row," he said. "It hadn't been done in Chicago a long, long time. Now the expectations are up. People, they expect us to be good and they're disappointed when we don't win in the postseason. I think we've raised the level, and I think that's probably what I'm proudest about. They expect the Cubs to be good, and we are going to be good."



"Usually the year it's supposed to happen, it doesn't," Piniella said. "Our players wanted it really bad. Our fans, the city -- I think national television wanted it. It was disappointing that it ended so quickly. I didn't expect that, the players didn't expect that. Certainly our fans didn't expect it. I didn't have an explanation.

"Just because you win the most games during the year doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win in the postseason. The [Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim] have had great, great seasons, and they're a really nice ballclub and they've struggled in the postseason, also. I think only because this was the 100th year, I think everybody wanted to see it happen, including my players, myself, the organization.

"I've got a couple more cracks at it, and hopefully we'll get it done. I'd like to see that done more than anything else."



Piniella now has 1,701 wins and ranks 14th in Major League history. He admitted he's thought about whether that will get him a spot in Cooperstown.

"I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about it," he said. "Whatever happens after my career is over happens. I enjoy what I do. I don't have much left. I still have passion, I still want to win. I enjoy working with [general manager] Jim Hendry and the rest of the staff, Wrigley Field, the city of Chicago, our Cubs fans. It's a good way for me to exit. I've won a lot of games, and I've been fortunate. I've been working for a long time."



cubs.com

[LeeEila's/rant]

That was very generous of him , to donate all of that money .

I really hope he is being honest , in saying he still has the passion , I was wondering if he really does.

[ryno4ever]

Here's some more on Lou's talks with the media today:

He reiterated he plans to move Kosuke Fukudome to center field, where he’ll platoon with Reed Johnson, and said the Cubs are seeking a power-hitting right-fielder from the left side to insert into the No. 4 or 5 spot in the lineup.

Piniella said he didn’t know who was available on the market. He also said he hadn’t spoken to general manager Jim Hendry about the possibility of acquiring Jake Peavy from San Diego, saying he first heard of the rumor while watching ESPN.

“I think it’s only talk,” he said, adding: “He’s obviously a very, very good pitcher and he’s a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, but we’ll see what happens with it. As far as myself, I haven’t had any substantive talks with Jim about it.”

As for the postseason flop against the Dodgers, Piniella was blunt.

“It felt like we got run over by a semi truck,” he said.

So what happened?

Piniella pointed to the lack of “throwing strikes early” in Game 1, a defensive meltdown by the infield in Game 2, and a lack of hitting throughout the series.

“We’ve got no excuses. Look, we played the Dodgers, a total of 10 times during the course of the season, and we just didn’t hit their pitching. We didn’t hit their pitching during the season, and we didn’t hit their pitching in postseason. An amazing statistic -- we played their team all year and never faced one pitch from a lefthanded pitcher. They stayed right-handed with us the whole time.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re trying to get just a little more left-handed. It’s going to be hard to do, but we’re going to do the best we can, and Jim Hendry does a nice job at it.”

[TheBenjamin]

very classy