Piniella not going anywhere, says Cubs GM

Chalk it up to life with the modern media.

That's what people around the Cubs were doing Monday after foxsports.com baseball writer Ken Rosenthal suggested the Cubs "should consider dumping" manager Lou Piniella "and replacing him with his polar opposite, the team's mild-mannered bench coach, Alan Trammell," if the team's fortunes don't improve soon.

Aside from getting a good-natured laugh out of the phrase "mild-mannered" when it comes to Trammell, team personnel said firing Lou hasn't crossed their minds.

And general manager Jim Hendry says it's not going to happen.

"I'm absolutely completely confident in Lou Piniella," Hendry said. "I've never had any thought about Lou not being the manager here this year. I have complete faith in the coaching staff, also. I have no intention of making any changes at all."

For his part, Piniella said he appreciated Hendry's support but noted how much the media have changed since his playing days.

"You know what's amazing is that when I played, you came into the clubhouse after the ballgame, you took your uniform off - the team won, or the team lost," Piniella said. "You didn't have to answer all the things you have to answer today because of all the different news media: ESPN, Fox, Major League Baseball. You've got to be so careful what your comments are.

"When I played, wins and losses is what mattered. And basically that's what should matter now."

The speculation no doubt started because the Cubs have been doing more losing than winning. They entered Monday's game with a record of 16-22.

"I've said all along that we're going to get better," Piniella said. "I feel that way. And we've got the team here to do it. Jim and I have worked closely together, and you go through some tough times and you go through some good times in this business.

"What do I care about speculation? I've been doing this for 231/2 years, and I'm going to be worried about speculation? I don't think so."

Players seemed to take the hubbub in stride.

"I think that's what happens every time we have a three- or four-game losing streak," first baseman Derrek Lee said.

Hendry noted how Piniella helped turn the Cubs around from a similar situation in 2007, the manager's first year on the job. Part of that turnaround was Piniella replacing Cesar Izturis at shortstop with Ryan Theriot, who didn't make a good impression in 2006 with then-manager Dusty Baker.

"I'm think I'm a little biased," Theriot said. "I didn't really play much when I had Dusty. (Piniella) is really my only real manager I've had on a day-to-day basis playing every day. Of course, I'm going back Lou. He gave me a chance to play every day. He put me out in the lineup. I've had a lot of fun playing.

"We've had some good teams. We've had a lot of fun and won a lot of games. I don't see any reason we can't do that this year."

Piniella, 66, is in the final year of his contract. The Cubs won division titles in 2007 and 2008 under Piniella and have had winning seasons in all three of his years in Chicago.

The Rosenthal column also noted that new Cubs owner Tom Ricketts "is said to be enamored of Piniella's star power." Hendry shot down that notion, too.

"Tom and I have never had any chats about 'star power' or salaries for the manager," Hendry said. "Tom's been fine to work with. We're frustrated in his first year we're not doing better for him and his family, too."