Hendry: put blame on me

While there is much about the Cubs that seems uncertain right now, especially as it relates to 2010, GM Jim Hendry made a couple points very clear.

First and foremost, he says he is 100 percent certain Lou Piniella will be back as manager next year.

Hendry also believes Piniella has as much fire and passion in his managing as he ever did, all evidence to the contrary.

And if the Cubs fail to make the playoffs, which looks like a lock, Hendry takes full responsibility.

"Absolutely, he will be back," Hendry said. "Lou is certain and I'm certain. There's no story there."

What has Cubs fans irritated is that Piniella appears less than engaged, no more so than during his postgame news conferences.

"He may not be as hard publicly on guys as he used to be, but behind closed doors I assure you he is," Hendry said. "He hates to lose as much as he ever did.

"He stays up all night sometimes searching for the answers and comes in with five new lineups and 10 new ideas.

"He's still mad as (heck) about it. We sit on the plane sometimes and don't say a word because we're both mad as (heck). Then, we start talking about it and we can't believe what we've seen.

"But he's not going to beat them up verbally in the press. It doesn't solve anything. And he's been doing this a long time, so I don't need to go down there every day and ask him who he's had up in his office.

"He knows what he's doing. Nobody questioned that two years ago when we started terrible and he straightened it out, and nobody questioned that last year when we won 97 games."

After two years of getting swept in the playoffs, Hendry made changes, some of which were probably an appeasement to Piniella, who wanted more left-handed hitters.

"We really had to change. There's no way we could have come into this season with the same team that lost six straight playoff games," Hendry said. "If we had done that, everyone would have wondered how we could stand pat with a team that couldn't win it all.

"It would have been shortsighted to say, 'We won 97 games. Let's do the same thing.' The goal is to win a championship, and that's what we were trying to do.

"So we made changes we thought would work, and if it turns out we don't get in, then that's on me. That's my fault it didn't work. Put it on me."

Hendry is shocked that this team after five months still hasn't put it together, and he won't use a season filled with injuries, or the lack of an owner that could have helped, as an excuse.

"Collectively, we just haven't hit, and guys with a history of hitting just haven't done it," Hendry said. "It's a crazy game. The Yankees had a huge payroll last year and didn't make the playoffs, so they spent even more money and now they're the best team.

"I thought Cleveland was going to be very good this year and look at them. Who didn't like them, right? Anyone not pick us to win our division? Everyone loved our team in March, right? It's a crazy game."

There are seasons like this when it just doesn't work out, when nothing goes right from the first day to the last.

The Cubs have run into one of those in 2009, and that part is understandable. That's baseball. It happens.

But it would help the perception if Piniella could show more interest and be more honestly agitated.

Again, it's those ridiculous postgame sessions with reporters that leave the impression that he's just not all there.

The truth is some days there isn't anything to say, no new way to answer the same old questions about being bad.

But next year the Cubs have to do something different with that situation.

Some managers talk about how much they hate those postgame "dungeons" and feel more comfortable in their own offices, so maybe the Cubs ought to move the postgame interrogation back to Piniella's office.

If live TV doesn't like it, too bad. It was done forever that way and it was fine. Crowded, but fine.

Visiting managers still do it in a tiny office on the other side of Wrigley Field - Ozzie Guillen did it again Thursday with a huge crowd - and if it will help Piniella look like Piniella, the Cubs ought to try it.

"I don't know what I'd be like in there 10 minutes after a game," Hendry said. "It probably wouldn't be pretty."

No one wants a show for the sake of it, but if Piniella has the passion Hendry insists is there, he must find a way to let the fans know he still cares.

Next year will likely be his last ever as a big league manager, and he most certainly wants to go out on top.

It's up to Hendry - who has three more years left on his deal - to put the pieces in place for Piniella, Cubs fans, and especially new owner Tom Ricketts.

"If it doesn't work out this year, we'll go back to the drawing board and we'll work hard this winter to get it right," Hendry said. "We will get it right. We got it right the last two years and we'll do it again.

"I'm sure of it."

brozner@dailyherald.com