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No more heroes in sad saga

After his blowup at ownership, Rays manager Lou Piniella has raised the question of whether he wants to stick around for the long term.

By GARY SHELTON
Published June 14, 2005

	[Times photo: James Borchuck]
	After his blowup at ownership, Rays manager Lou Piniella has raised the question of whether he wants to stick around for the long term.

Lou vs. Stu, and the loser is you.

One is the Favorite Son, the other is the White Knight. One is the Last Ounce of Credibility, the other is the New Hope. Together, they were the last innocents on a franchise full of suspects.

Now they are at odds, and the odds against the Devil Rays have just become a little longer.

If, despite all you have seen, you still believed in a happy ending for a tragic franchise, if you still thought you could see a way out of the ooze, it was because you believed in either Lou Piniella or in Stuart Sternberg. One day, perhaps Sternberg's wallet would empower Piniella's passion, and finally Rays fans could dare to keep score.

Today, there are questions surrounding both of them.

Even by the Rays' standards, this seems a particularly ugly period of time, like a platypus with pimples or a warthog with, well, warts. When Piniella ripped into Sternberg on Sunday, it meant that criticism had found its way to the last two men who seemed beyond it. Officially, all shoes are now muddied.

As they say in baseball, sometimes it's the speed and sometimes it's the location. Oh, we had heard the volume of Piniella's frustrations before. This time was different, however, because it was aimed at the backup owner. More precisely, it was aimed at Sternberg, the prince-in-waiting of the Rays.

For the first time, it was possible to wonder if Sternberg will be something other than the cavalry.

For the first time, it was possible to question if Piniella wanted something more than to be the bugler sounding the charge.

On a team that is running low on faith and darned near out of hope, either option feels uncomfortable. For a year now, fans have wanted to believe the turning point of this franchise would come on the day Sternberg took over from Vince Naimoli. In the meantime, at least there was Piniella, a blunt, honest man who took losing as hard as the guy in the bleachers.

Suddenly, instead of answers, there are more questions. What if Sternberg isn't a better alternative in the owner's box? What if he is a sequel instead of a remake? Was Piniella, as has been suggested, really trying to squawk his way into getting fired so he can go elsewhere?

Above all, and it's time to ask, is this marriage working?

For some time now, they have been an odd coupling, a manager who lives for today and a team that wants to talk about the day after tomorrow. Piniella has no time for patience; the Rays seldom talk about anything else. There are managers who plant and managers who harvest, and Piniella is an autumn kind of guy on a spring sort of franchise.

So what happens now?

And how much harder will that make it to follow the Rays?

It would be a shame, wouldn't it, if all of this were about alimony? If the Rays wanted to fire Piniella but wouldn't because of the severance money, or if Piniella wanted to quit but wouldn't because of the paycheck? It would speak poorly of both sides. It would suggest a manager who had given up on his clubhouse, an owner who was shortchanging his market.

Here is what I think: Piniella wouldn't mind being somewhere else. Being outscored, outnumbered and outspent every night out wears on a soul after a while.

That said, Piniella was talking out of frustration, not manipulation. He is a blunt man, not a slick one, not one given to grand conspiracies and orchestrated deceit. He's weary and aches for something better.

Here is what I suppose: As the most silent of silent partners, Sternberg couldn't have been very happy to be called out by his manager. For a man in the on-deck circle, Sternberg has been careful to stay invisible. Perhaps our first clues as to what sort of owner he will be will come from how he handles this situation. Suffice to say, he probably is not drawing up a contract extension as we speak.

Here is what I believe: The Rays are not going to fire Lou, not if he comes to work in full Yankee gear, not if he stands on the dugout and yodels between innings. Casting aside one of the few assets the team has, paying him to go away and enabling him to relocate, makes no sense. Not when the team, deep inside, knows it has let down the manager more than the other way around.

Lou isn't going to quit, either. There is too much pride involved to surrender. Too much money, too. So he will ride it out for the short term, and there are days he will feel as weary and beaten down as Mike Tyson.

Here is what I predict: Eventually, they will part. It will come later, perhaps at the end of the season. Someone will approach someone else about a buyout. Maybe the trading block is involved. Just like that, something that could have been a lot of fun turned out to be not much for anyone. No happy endings here.

Here is what I know: In the ever-expanding ugliness of the Rays' universe, it gets uglier. Every day, you think you have seen the worst of the Rays, and still they surprise you. The losing continues. Players wander about for weeks without explanation. Trades fail. Prospects bust. Offseasons are spent in hibernation.

Now this. Consider: Rays general manager Chuck LaMar talked for 15 minutes on the field Monday, surrounded by reporters, and not once was he asked about dumping Alex Sanchez, a player who was hitting .346. Even that might have been preferable to trying to be the peacemaker in the club's latest domestic dispute.

As for Piniella, he didn't want to talk anymore about his outburst. But he didn't back down, and he didn't dance around. He said what he said. Simple as that.

Lou vs. Stu. Just another night at the zoo.

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 01:43:34]