Come To Think of It...Could This Be Cubs Skipper Lou Piniella's Swan Song?

According to a report in www.chi-ball.com, "An MLB source says this will definitely be Lou Piniella’s last year managing." 

The source claims that Sweet Lou "does not still enjoy dealing with running a clubhouse and all that comes with the job...(and) didn’t do that great of a job with some of the players last year."

While the site isn't "totally convinced," this should not come as a complete surprise to Cubs fans who have followed the Cubs skipper since being hired in 2006.

He wasn't three months into the job before he started complaining about the local media. Hey, if he thinks they're tough here, he ought to try managing in New York or Philadelphia. But I digress.

There have been other reports which have seemed to indicate that Lou hasn't been having fun managing anymore. He has expressed frustration about how the fans and media treat each game as do or die in this town.

When we win, we're going to the World Series. When we lose, we're cursed again.

And he couldn't have been very happy about Ryan Dempster's comments that the team wasn't prepared for the playoffs last year. Though Demp quickly backed off the comments, the point was taken.

Another thing to consider is that Lou isn't getting any younger. At 65, he truly doesn't need this any longer.

He has already won a title as manager of the Reds. Overall, he has won 1,701 regular season games as a big league skipper.

And, he had a pretty nice career as a player too. He hit .291 during the regular season and .305 in 44 postseason games.

Additionally, he is said to have a cushy consulting job with the New York Yankees in his hometown of Tampa, Florida waiting for him when he decides to hang up the managerial reigns. That has to be appealing to him.

And the team has seriously under-performed during the playoffs, winning a total of zero games with Lou as manager. Even the hated Dusty Baker not only won some games during the playoffs, he took them to within nine outs of a World Series appearance.

I really believe that Lou saw the Cubs as a chance to cement a Hall of Fame berth if he could be the savior that finally led us to the promised land.

Perhaps he realizes now that this isn't likely to happen.

Anyway, there are no guarantees that the new owner will want to bring Lou back.

Well, if this truly is his last hurrah, perhaps former Cubs great and current minor league manager Ryne Sandberg will take over as the next Cubs manager.

Come to think of it, we've tried everything else, maybe having a former Cubs Hall of Famer as manager is a good idea.

It has to be better than the "college of coaches," right?