Gregg wants to pitch, but Cubs play it safe

Kevin Gregg said he wants to pitch but that the manager and medical staff "trumped" him.

Manager Lou Piniella said Tuesday that the Cubs have shut down Gregg for the rest of the season because of "cracked cartilage" in the rib cage, near to where it connects to the breastbone.

"They pay me to be ready for 162," Gregg said. "I want to pitch. I want to go out there. I thought I could deal with it and pitch. They're more concerned about making sure nothing else comes of it, to keep it at just that, which is a couple-week process to get over it. We've kind of gone back and forth over it."

Although Piniella replaced Gregg as closer with Carlos Marmol last month, he praised Gregg as someone who always took the ball.

Gregg finishes the season 5-6 with a 4.72 ERA and 23 saves in 30 chances. He gave up 13 homers, including a couple of big ones in Florida in early August.

"Up until we made that change, I think I had more games and more innings than any other closer in the game," he said. "I told Lou, 'I'll take the ball anytime you need me to.'

"Was I 100 percent every time I went out there? No, I wasn't. I think sometimes it's easy to sit back and make sure you're 100 percent when you're out there. That's not really helping the team. Sometimes they need you when you're a little less."

Gregg is a free agent this fall, and it's unlikely he will be back.

Piniella fires: Lou Piniella said he took exception to a column in the Chicago Sun-Times that said he looked "disinterested" at times this year.

"I've been 'in it' from the first day I've been here to the last day I leave here," Piniella said. "I take pride in the team winning and playing well to please our fan base, which, to me, is the best in baseball.

"We work exceedingly hard here as a staff. If you want to stick around and be here until 1-1:30 in the morning when the parking lot is closed because we're having meetings on how we can get our team better, you'll see that we're very interested and take a lot of pride in what we do."

Ramirez achy: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez was not in Tuesday's lineup because of lingering soreness in his left shoulder, which he dislocated in May.

Lou Piniella said Ramirez might be able to play "sparingly" the rest of the way, but he repeated that Ramirez will not need off-season surgery.