Jerry Manuel vs. Lou Pinella: Which Manager Has a Worse Disadvantage?

The gauntlet has been thrown. Jerry Manuel took our first Stupid Call of the Week by throwing K-Rod for 100 pitches in the bullpen and Lou Pinella fired back with the second Stupid Call of the Week by moving Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen. So I decided to pit manager vs. manager to see who has a worse disadvantage at doing their job. Is it "Sweet" Lou Pinella and his band of lovable losers, the Chicago Cubs? Or is it Jerry Manuel and his unlucky group of New York Mets? Best of 7. Let's get to it!

	Jerry Manuel	Lou Pinella	Dis-Advantage
GM	Omar Minaya - What can you say about Omar that hasn't already been said? Oliver Perez. Lack of bench depth. Tony Bernazard. Lack of starters. If the Adam Rubin press conference didn't do him in, you wonder what will finally end the misery?	Jim Hendry - One hamstringing contract after another. Alfonso Soriano. Milton Bradley. Now Carlos Silva. Also, surprising lack of NLCS appearances despite playing in weak division and weak league and spending plenty of money	This one goes to Jerry. Minaya's public spat with Carlos Beltran put this one over the top this year.  1-0 Jerry
Team Curses	You wonder if breaking ground on Citi Field is going to be this team's ultimate downfall. 2006 NCLS breakdown, two seasons of losing on the last day of the season and then last years debacle	The Billy Goat. Merkle's Boner. Steve Bartman. Collapse after collapse and bad fortune after bad fortune. A century of losing. The team has tried to sacrifice goats on Harry Caray's statue and it hasn't even worked. And there's even an "Ex-Cubs Factor"	This is all Sweet Lou. Now that the Red Sox and White Sox won, it's the Cubs all alone. The Indians haven't won in 60 years and it looks like nothing compared to the Cubbies. All tied up at 1

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The Stupid Call of the Week: Carlos Zambrano to the Bullpen

I don't even have to wait until the end of the week. Lou Pinella and the Chicago Cubs have taken the cake for the stupid move of the week. Why? They moved their ace starter, Carlos Zambrano, to the bullpen. Seriously. Lou Pinella said the move "makes all the sense in the world." Oh boy. This is the same team that won't bench Alfonso Soriano...but they decide to basically do the same thing to Carlos Zambrano. I feel like Lou Pinella is trying to get fired. I don't even need to explain the stupidity of this move...I'll let others do it:

Let's let ESPN's Rob Neyer bat leadoff:

Carlos Zambrano is heading to the bullpen? So Carlos Silva can remain in the rotation? Has there been a weirder story this spring? Or a sillier story?

Yahoo! Roto Arcade's Andy Behrens:

You didn't ask for my opinion, but here it is: This decision isn't merely stupid, it's weapons-grade stupid. Total organizational failure. Even if Zambrano is successful in the setup role, this is an atrocious use of resources. This is neither bold nor innovative. It's just insane. One of the all-time panic moves. In fact, it's in the panic move hall of fame. 

HardballTalk's Matthew Pouliot:

Sticking Zambrano in the bullpen is really the most boneheaded move the Cubs could have made. Sticking him in left field would have made as much sense. Zambrano, after all, has 16 homers in 314 at-bats since the beginning of 2006. Alfonso Soriano has eight homers in his past 314 at-bats.

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Steinbrenner Yankeeography Well Done, Very Funny

I just finished watching YES Yankeeography on George Steinbrenner. I was interested to seeing it, especially after writing a post this past week about the man and wanting to see what the Yankees and other had to say. Overall, I think it was a job well-done. The best part about it, I think, was some of the humorous George Steinbrenner anecdotes. The Boss was a pretty funny guy and I definitely laughed quite a few times at the various quotes they reproduced. The best one was from Lou Piniella:

I didn't know Mr. Steinbrenner at all. I had just been traded there. I was just joking around. I said (to Steinbrenner), 'Our Lord Jesus Christ had long hair, and things seemed to work out for him.' He didn't say a word. He said, 'Come with me.' We walked across the street to the Ft. Lauderdale swimming pool and he said, 'If you can walk on water, you can wear your hair any way you want.'

I think that they could have spent a little more time speaking about some of bad parts of Steinbrenner (the suspensions and his contentious relationships), but this is his network and they weren't going to throw the old man under the bus. I rather hear about his charitable work too, especially the story of how Ray Negron got his job (let's just say he was a little bit of a juvenile delinquent before The Boss got a hold of him)

Speaking of the old man, it was sad to see how much he's really deteriorated the past few years. They had some interviews with him in the early 2000s and he looked quite with it and was funny and clear thinking. It's sad to think he's slipped so much that he refuses to make many public appearances.

But it made me appreciate even more what he's done for the Yankees and knowing they'd never be where they are right now (the team, the ballpark, the recent history) had it not been for George Michael Steinbrenner III.

Uncle Lou Comes To the Rescue, May Be Watching Weeds

You have got to love Lou Pinella. After Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto admitted smoking pot, Sweet Lou came to his defense. Via ESPN Chicago:

"Look, I have smoked dope one time in my life," Piniella said before the Cubs faced the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. "And it didn't do a damn thing for me, and I never tried it again. I'm fortunate because of that. A lot of people do. You can even buy it in California from a pharmacy."

Yes, you can, Lou, sort of. Have you been watching this season of Weeds? Because Silas and Doug are opening up their own "pharmacy" now (or is it a farm-acy if you're selling weed?). It's a really good show if you don't watch it.

Anyways, this is not the only World Baseball Classic violation it seems. Sidney Ponson was caught taking what he says are diet pills, but are being described as a "stimulant". I've seen Sir Sidney before and I'm pretty sure that he's not on diet pills. Not positive. But pretty sure. They're certainly not helping his pitching with the Royals (1-5, 7.27 ERA).

So diet pills and pot? Sounds like a college campus to me.