"My little boy has just turned two, and he is trying toy figure out a music box. It is a baseball music box, on which a small figure pivots with a tiny bat, swinging at a white cloth marble while the tinny sounds of Take Me Out to the Ball Game leak from below.
The music box has two operating mechanisms, an on/off switch which one pushes and pulls, bust also a handle which must be wound to provide power. This is too much for a two year old boy to deal with at first. He pulls the switch and the music starts; he pushes it and the music stops-but then, when the tension winds down, he pulls the switch and nothing happens. Isaac is frustrated. 'Broke,' he says, handing me the worthless machine. 'Ball player broke.'
He will, of course, soon figure out the concept of two switches. But I am struck by this: that ideas are harder than machines, and many people will never master the two-switch concept as it applies to a logical inference. I find this to be an undeniable lesson of sports talk shows. A caller argues that a baseball manager makes no difference. Look at Whitey Herzog, ne says; he was supposed to be such a genius a few years ago, but why can't he win now? The caller has not mastered the two-switch concept; the on/off switch must be turned on, but the energy [talent] must also be there.

Bill James, The Baseball Book 1991

Lou has taken his beatings here and in the press, for a bad showing the last two seasons. Lou is a good manager. He was a good manager in 1990, when he won a World Series and beat my beloved (and more talented) Athletics in four games behind Jose Rijo. He was a good manager when his Mariners won 114 games but inexplicably did not win the World Series. He was a good manager when he pantsed Jerry Manuel and his White Sox in the ALCS. What people don't seem to understand is the second switch. When there is no talent, or talent gets old in a hurry, a manager is effectively neutered. The Cubs gained most of their offense from their corner infield spots. Derrick Lee got old in a hurry this season and Aramis Ramierez continued his legacy of hitting only when it doesn't count and getting injured. Fukudome proved he can be decent but certainly not worth his contract. The Cubs finally figured out that Ryan Theriot was a second baseman and got rid of him eventually. The Cubs, when they were still involved in some way in the race for the division, got no consistant offense from anyone other than Marlon Byrd.

They won't be good again for a while, unless every single one of these kids they're counting on immediately produces next season. So the Cubs won't initially miss Lou. But when and if they are good again, perhaps within this decade, they'll regret getting rid of one of the more cerebral managers in the business, a manager that will likely be in the Hall of Fame when it's all said and done. Goodbye Lou-I always thought you were the best Cubs manager I've seen in my lifetime.

Which is albeit, not a long period of time.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Obviously you haven't watched any of the games under Quade

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Cof I have been pretty critical of your posts around here for awhile, but I must say this was well done, and for the most part I agree with it. Lou was/is a really good manager and he is not to blame for all this mess.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

i dont get it

the cubs didnt "get rid of" Lou, he retired and was gonna retire

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Outstanding sig line. Thanks. First post you've made that I agreed with.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I don't blame Lou and I didn't blame Dusty but the bad contracts and bad players weighed on both so much they lost their desire to do their jobs. It's not their faults, but they simply got CUBBED!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Oh man .... I am not going to make any accusations because I see what happens to those who speak up around here but this is a very whistleresque post

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totally true...just like baylor and Riggs before them...the looks on their faces during their final seasons here are priceless images etched in my mind

they just couldnt believe the pressure

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The Defense rests

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Lou came in here for millions. The dumbass was oblivious to anything "Cubs". He was surprised at the intensity of the fan's and how the press was on his every word. He should have been clued in before he got here.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I do blame Dusty, but agree its mostly bad contracts & players.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

can we just go back to name calling? I don't think I can handle you agreeing with me...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I am not saying any 'supernatural' curse exists, but things do snowball around here quickly. The tiny Press room, everyone hears everything you are saying or doing, or not doing, they write about it, you need to defend it. The place is filled all summer, so if you suck, you are going to be booed by 35,000+, which is not a common thing If your team sucks usually nobody is in the stands.

You let 8,000 of your fans into the park 3 hours before the game to get seats. You give them 25% off beer prices for the first 2 hours and you think a sun drenched OF full of 20 something drunk Aholes isnt going to yell at your players if they lose?

As a manager you do need to reply to curses, goats, 100+ years as well. You may not like it, believe it or maybe even know about it, but you are going to be asked about it.

Commercials, appearances, charities, etc.

Oh yeah, then you need to manage the team!

Being the Cub manager has more pressure than any managerial job in baseball! and all that stuff, some of it crap, all adds up to being cubbed.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Nope, just realize what the pressure has done to EVERYONE in the past.

Maybe it happens everywhere else, but every single manager since Jim Frey has exploded at some point and time.

Maybe you see a pattern of pressure????

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

i like to use "wilted", but yea

the look on the manager's face during their last year in the dugout is the same look of shock and despair, it's so funny

Riggleman, Baylor, Baker, and Piniella were exhausted

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I blame myself for remaining a Cubs fan.

At least I'm not like Darko and DW, though, and switching allegiances to the South South.