A big hearty congratulations goes out to Cubs skipper Lou Piniella today.  In a survey done by Sports Illustrated (and reported here in the Chicago Tribune), Piniella was voted the manager MLB players would least like to play for.  Piniella garnered an impressive 26% of the vote.  His closest rival was White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen who received 21%.

When asked who players would most like to play for, 25% voted for Atlanta’s Bobby Cox, followed by the Dodger’s Joe Torre (16%) and the Angels’ Mike Scioscia (8%).  Torre actually made both lists.  While 16% of respondents said he is the manager they would most like to play for, 4% said Torre is the manager they would least like to play for.

Does this really mean anything?  Probably not.  For one thing, players could not vote for their own manager, so the players that voted for Piniella as the manager they would least like to play for already don’t play for him.  In other words, the Lou haters in the poll can’t affect the Cubs, at least not this year.

But what about in the future?  Will Lou’s negative reputation among the players prevent the Cubs from signing free agents?  Probably not.  Players know that 1) Lou won’t be around forever, 2) the Cubs money is just as green as any other team’s, and 3) players still generally love being a part of the Cubs organization.  So while the survey is entertaining, I don’t think it means much.

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The Cubs made a trade today, but nobody seems to know who the Cubs traded.  According to Yahoo Sports, the Cubs received Jeff Baker from the Colorado Rockies.  Baker is an infielder who is currently on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues.  For his career, he has a batting line of .257/.313/.458 with 12 homeruns and 48 RBI in 561 ABs.  He is 28 years old.

My guess is that Baker is ready to come off of his rehab assignment and the Rockies don’t have room for him on the roster.  So they’re sending him to the Cubs for a player to be named later (although they’re not saying a PTBNL).  I wouldn’t think the Cubs would have to give up too much in return for Baker, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cubs wait until after the season to send a player to Colorado.

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On the field, the Cubs beat the Pirates last night 4-1.  Randy Wells pitched very well again (how many times can I say that?).  Sam Fuld got the start in left field and played a great game.  He batted lead-off and got on base three times in five trips to the plate (including his first big league hit).  He also made a nice sliding catch and made a terrific throw to the plate to nail Pirates SS Jack Wilson.

The Cubs took two-out-of-three from the Bucs and return home to Wrigley today to take on the Brewers.  Ryan Dempster (4-5) will go up against Seth McClung (3-1).  The Cubs are currently 3.5 games behind the first place Brewers, so this is a very important series.

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Aramis Ramirez is set to begin a rehab assignment on Friday.  Surprisingly, he won’t be going to the triple-A Iowa Cubs, but instead will be rehabbing in single-A with the Peoria Chiefs.  The Chiefs wrap up a series on Friday at Kane County (Geneva, IL) before returning home to Peoria on Saturday.  As it happens, I’ll be in Peoria on Saturday, but it’s looking doubtful that I’ll be able to make it to the game.  Oh well…

Initially, Ramirez was expected to do a week-long minor league rehab, but now it sounds like the Cubs only plan on keeping him in Peoria through the weekend.  It’s hard for me to believe that he’s going to be able to get his timing down in just 12-15 at-bats,  especially against single-A pitching, but it sounds like that is the plan.  For the Cubs’ sake, I hope it works.