Lou Piniella Voted Manager Players Would Least Like to Play For

It hasn't been the greatest week for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Not only is he feeling the heat of the Chicago media with the Cubs scuffling, but he's also gotten into an argument with Milton Bradley in which he called his right fielder a "piece of [expletive]." Regardless of whether the exchange should have ever left the clubhouse or not, it's not exactly the type of thing you want the world to know about.

All of this was done after a recent poll by Sports Illustrated in which Major League players were asked anonymously which manager in baseball they would least like to play for, and which one they'd most like to play for. Guess which one Sweet Lou emerged "victorious" in.

In a poll of 380 players, conducted in May, Piniella received 26 percent of the vote, followed closely by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen at 21 percent. St. Louis' Tony La Russa finished third at 10 percent, followed by the Dodgers' Joe Torre (4 percent) and Cleveland's Eric Wedge (4 percent).

So it's nice to see that Chicago has a monopoly on managers players aren't very fond of, but looking at the top four finishers in this poll, I'm not exactly surprised.

Piniella, Guillen, La Russa, and Torre are all powerful personalities who have no qualms about using their influence and position to get their point across. I'm guessing Eric Wedge made it on the list because nobody wants to finish in last place.

As for who was voted manager that players want to play for, it's not too much of a surprise that Atlanta's Bobby Cox came in first with 25 percent of the vote. Joe Torre finished second with Mike Scioscia third, Joe Maddon fourth, and Terry Francona in fifth.

Also, 53 percent of the players poll responded "Who?" when asked about Pittsburgh's John Russell.*

*not really