You knew it was coming, but you think they'd let him manage a few games first:

fireloupiniella.net

Brief excerpt:

Besides pissing off the players, Piniellas' tantrums will quickly get under the skin of the umpires. Do you think the Cubs got bad calls before, just wait until Piniella ticks off the umpires.

Anyone here wanna take credit for this one?

Follow-up to a diary I posted in November. MLB/Monster has posted job openings, including several for the Cubs:

http://jobsearch.mlb.careers.monster.com/

Pay for the stringer job (entering data into the mlb.com Gameday) was $85/game last year.

Presumably, the position includes free cold-reheated Connie's Pizza and malt cups.

Caught up recently with a friend of the family, a fellow displaced Cubs fan now living in Denver. Turns out he's got a baseball geek's dream job: entering the real-time data for Gameday at Coors Field.

Read all about it (and be jealous like me) in his column (archived) at The Hardball Times: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-stringer/

Link below to Crain's article discussing the Tribune's impending plans to sell some of its holdings (no registration required):

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=24687&bt=Tribune&searchType=phr ase

The Cubs are certainly the most visible of those holdings.

Would you rather have a deep, deep pocketed owner with a burning desire to win it all? Or do you prefer the corporate ownership? For every potential Arte Moreno there's a Peter Angelos out there.

There 's a degree of speculation in all this, but this might make fiscal sense to the bean-counters at the Tower at this time.

Some of you already know that I have SF Giants season tickets. It's easier and cheaper to get my baseball fix out here buying them all and selling off the ones I don't want than paying full price for single games. But today I had to laugh...

The Giants (12 games under .500) sent out post-season invoices yesterday. At least they give you until 9/16 to decide if it's worth throwing away the $25 non-refundable FedEx S & H fee on those.

If you're going this weekend, stop by and say hi to Jeff (bh714 here) and I in Sec 139. We'll be the ones in Cubby blue...

Anyone surprised? I guess I am.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-050801palmeiro,1,73886.story?col l=cs-home-headlines

NEW YORK -- Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's steroids policy Monday, nearly five months after telling Congress that "I have never used steroids. Period."

Palmeiro two weeks ago collected his 3,000th hit, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray as the only players with 3,000 hits and 500 homers.

Palmeiro, 40, is the seventh and highest-profile player to test positive for steroids under the major league policy adopted earlier this year.

In remarks prepared for a conference call Monday, Palmeiro said he had accepted his punishment and could not explain how the steroids got into his body.

"I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period," he said. "Ultimately, although I never intentionally put a banned substance into my body, the independent arbitrator ruled that I had to be suspended under the terms of the program."

A grievance filed by the players' union against the suspension was denied.

Appearing with Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and other baseball stars before a congressional committee on March 17, Palmeiro made an opening statement in which he said: "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

Palmeiro seemed in that appearance to be indignant over accusations made by former slugger Jose Canseco, who cited Palmeiro as a steroid user in his tell-all book. In an interview on the CBS television show "60 Minutes," Canseco -- who also testified before Congress -- said he injected the drug into Palmeiro.

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