Sweet Lou's Last Run

Cubs manager Lou Piniella has announced he will retire after this season, presumably after a Chicago loss in late-September. Piniella, who started his managerial career in 1986 with the Yankees, has been around forever. The only seasons he wasn't a manager were 1989 and 2006, and he's been in the dugout with five different teams.



Piniella guided the 1990 Cincinnati Reds to a World Series sweep over the A's, but since hasn't had a ton of post-season success. He had several great regular-season teams in his 10 years with Seattle. In the strike-shortened 1995 season, the Mariners won the AL West in a one-game playoff over the Angels and reached the ALCS before losing to Cleveland. The 1997 West champions were beaten in four games by Baltimore in the ALDS, and the 2001 team won a record-tying 116 games before losing to the Yankees in the championship series.



After a forgettable three seasons in Tampa Bay (200-285, combined 96 1/2 games out of first), Piniella was 46 games over .500 in his first three seasons with the Cubs (2007-2009), which included an NL-best 97 wins in 2008. But like 2007, when Arizona swept a first-round series (yes, the Diamondbacks were in the post-season as recently as 2007), Piniella's club was swept in the first round in 2008 by the Dodgers.

Here's a list of some players Piniella managed:

Don Mattingly, Rickey Henderson, Ron Guidry, Tommy John, Dave Winfield, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Goose Gossage, Ichiro Suzuki, Fred McGriff

And here's another list of players Piniella managed:

Wayne Tolleson, Mike Pagliarulo, Bobby Meachum, Steve Trout, Lee Guetterman, Luis Quinones, Rob Dibble, Troy Afenir, Mackey Sasser, Wally Backman, Erik Plantenburg, George Glinatsis, Salomon Torres, Alvaro Espinoza, Ryan Radmanovich, Brett Hinchliffe, Desi Relaford, Terry Shumpert, John Rocker, Hideo Nomo, Rocky Cherry, Carmen Pignatiello, Esmailin Caridad

Ken Griffey Jr Opts For Retirement, More Naps

Mired in another disappointing season, the Seattle Mariners' best player in the history of their franchise has decided to hang them up. M's skipper Don Wakamatsu announced before tonight's game against the Twins that Ken Griffey Jr is retiring, effective immediately.

There is a lot that can be said about Griffey's return to the Mariners for his swan song. For example, it was an irresponsible waste of money by Seattle. Griffey was having a miserable season at the plate this year hitting .184/.250/.204 and even missed a pinch hit opportunity while napping in the clubhouse. And while I could make old jokes all day, I think today it would be better to just honor the man. After all, if it wasn't for the nagging injuries that marred his late career, Griffey would have easily been a top five player of all-time.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers courtesy of the fine people at Baseball Reference. Griffey hit 630 homeruns, good for a solid 5th place all time and will probably only be caught by Alex Rodriguez and maybe Albert Pujols. His career slash line is an impressive .284/.370/.538 that had some damage done to it over his final seasons. The number one overall pick in the 1987 draft finished in the top ten of MVP voting seven times.

Griffey won the AL MVP in 1997 while hitting 56 homeruns and .304/.382/.646. He had an even better season in 1994 when hit 40 homeruns and .323/.402/.674 (finished 2nd in MVP voting to Frank Thomas. Thomas hit 38 homeruns and a whopping .353/.487/.729. Insane).

So tonight, I'll raise a glass and toast to the Hall of Fame career of Ken Griffey Jr.