Cubs' manager Lou Piniella hasn't spoken to his team since the team lost to the Dodgers in the playoffs seven weeks ago. "I usually leave the players alone during the winter," Piniella said. "They see enough of me from spring training and the summer. When this thing was over, I thanked them for a really, really nice season. Look, we won 97 ballgames, and we played good baseball, and all of a sudden in the postseason, things didn't go real well. "We just didn't finish. That's over with, and now our focus is 2009, and basically we're going to have another good team and give ourselves another chance. I like the nucleus of the team. I like the chemistry of the team. Jim Hendry is working hard to try and improve it."