Frustrating season might prompt Piniella to 'walk' early

SAN DIEGO -- It's tempting to say the Cubs are going quietly this year, but then in comes "closer" Kevin Gregg with a ninth-inning lead and, ka-BOOM!

Well, make that former "closer" Kevin Gregg. The slumping Cubs mercifully sacked him Tuesday. Effective immediately, they're promoting Carlos Marmol to the closer's role. Marmol this year is threatening to become the first pitcher working exclusively in relief in baseball history to lead a league in hit batsmen, so let's just see how this goes.

A difficult August must have Lou Piniella wondering if he has lost his grip on his team. (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in other Cubs news, manager Lou Piniella narrowly escaped a jaywalking ticket in downtown San Diego while out for lunch and a haircut on Tuesday. No kidding. Not far from the team's hotel downtown, he crossed against a "Don't Walk" sign while talking with his son on his cell phone.

Piniella heard a siren, saw a motorcycle cop and thought he had better scoot out of the way.

"I thought he was chasing somebody," the skipper said.

Turned out, the cop was.

"It was me," Piniella said, chuckling.

He said he got off with a warning. I assume the warning was something along these lines: If you survive this particular Cubbie summer, sir, it will be a miracle. Now have a good day.

In a season of exploding Gatorade dispensers and late-inning leads, of injured regulars and diminished hitters, Piniella has met with frustration at every turn.

"It's been hard," Piniella says. "It's been really hard."

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He will turn 66 a week from Friday and there's little question he's managing in the midst of his last contract. He's signed through the 2010 season and, right now, there's not even a thought to managing past then. He's been in uniform nearly nonstop for 47 years, since debuting in rookie ball in Selma, Ala., in 1962, and he's got other things he eventually wants to do.

Given the way this year has gone and the makeup of his current roster, I wouldn't be surprised if Piniella decided he has had enough and didn't manage the final season of his contract. That's me talking, not him. That's me measuring his frustration level and, granted, this is a dangerous time for that.

As the Cubs battle for their 2009 lives, his $91.5 million ace, Carlos Zambrano, has made only one start this month because of back spasms. Cause? Laziness, partly. Big Z admitted Sunday he doesn't like to do his ab work and, well, that gives him something in common with thousands of guys who spend their weekends on the couch drinking beer and laughing at Adam Sandler movies.

Meantime, Piniella's $30 million outfielder, Milton Bradley, has 30 RBI (I'll let you do the math there).

His $136 million outfielder, Alfonso Soriano, was benched Monday and is down to sixth, from first, in the lineup. Yes, blatant streakiness is intriguing, except when the cold runs deeper and more often than the hot.

Bradley and Zambrano led the serial attacks on the Wrigley Field dugout Gatorade dispenser, which finally had to be removed to save the organization from further embarrassment.

Rookie of the Year catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana during the World Baseball Classic. Starter Ryan Dempster landed on the disabled list when he broke a big toe while leaping over the fence in front of the Wrigley Field dugout to celebrate a last-inning victory.

The list of disasters, both great and small, goes on. Soto has nine home runs and 29 RBI this year after collecting 23 and 86 last year. Infielder Aaron Miles, one of the Cubs' big winter acquisitions, has five RBI -- and one of those came on an infield ground ball. Dempster has six wins this year, down from 17 last year.

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez missed two months before the All-Star break with a shoulder injury. That's no small part of the reason why the Cubs have scored three or fewer runs in 51 games -- a whopping 44 percent of the time.

Piniella insists that if the Cubs do not find that last-gasp hot streak and do not make the playoffs, that offense, and not relief pitching, will be the culprit.

Which is quite a sizable statement, given that he had to blow Gregg out of the closer's role this week and given that the Cubs bullpen, along with that of Washington, ranks dead last in the NL in walks. No other relief corps in the league has issued more than the Cubs' 201 free passes.

Marmol, his newly installed closer, has 52 of them (and 11 hit batsmen, tying him with Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto for the NL lead).

"Take a couple more Excedrin," he jokes when asked how he has made it through all these teeth-grinding late innings. "Take a couple more aspirin for the headache."

"You know one thing?" he asks, turning serious. "They're not trying to walk people. It happens. What are you going to do?"

Last year, Piniella had healthy players and a harmonious clubhouse (Dempster reiterated this week that Mark DeRosa is as good a teammate as he has ever had).

This year and looking toward next, he has got an undependable ace, an underachieving clubhouse albatross (Bradley) whom Piniella called a "piece of s---" when they clashed earlier this year and an outfielder owed $90 million over five more years who is proving he's more role player than cornerstone (Soriano).

Among other things, what Piniella has discovered first hand during his three seasons in Chicago is this: Managing the Cubs is one of the three or four most meat-grinding managing jobs there is. You've got the Yankees, you've got the Red Sox, you've got the Cubs and, maybe, the Mets.

"I think every year is hard on Lou," first baseman Derrek Lee says. "He takes everything hard, no matter what. But I think he's fine."

What he has got to ask himself if the Cubs' current swoon (3-9 in their past 12 games following another loss Tuesday to San Diego) continues is, is the carrot of being in the manager's chair when the Cubs finally win that elusive World Series -- whenever that will be -- worth enduring the interim? And, realistically, can this suddenly old-looking team be reshaped enough to be a serious World Series threat in 2010?

It has been ugly, it has been embarrassing at times and it has been bone-crushing. The Cubs have lost 16 games in their opponent's final at-bat this season. Gregg was relieved of his closer title after blowing three saves and compiling an 11.25 ERA this month. He has surrendered 12 home runs, most of any NL reliever.

The Cubs are six games behind NL Central-leading St. Louis with 46 to go. They trail Colorado, San Francisco, Florida and Atlanta in the NL wild-card chase.

Hope? When they finish this West Coast trip, they will play 24 of their final 40 games at home. And of those 24 home games remaining, 23 are against teams whose records are less than .500.

Problem is, if Marmol and Co. don't get things turned around, soon the Cubs (60-57) will be below .500 themselves.

If that happens, even the jaywalking tickets probably get written.

"I took my warning and went on my merry way," Piniella said of his brush with the law Tuesday.

Question now is, will any of the paths from here leading toward the end of Piniella's tenure with the Cubs -- whenever that is -- be so merry?