MESA, Ariz. – There was just one thing about accepting the offer from the Cubs’ new Marquee Sports Network that made Lou Piniella pause for even a second.
“I was a little concerned about how I’d be received by the people in Chicago because I left there at the end of August,” said Piniella, the former Cubs manager who showed up at spring training for some network business this week. “Because I didn’t finish my last season. I went home.”
Piniella, who managed the Cubs to the playoffs his first two seasons in 2007 and 2008, left late in the 2010 season to return home to Tampa to attend to his ailing mother.