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I agree that he wasn't a manager so that people could revel in his greatness, but I do think he did the M's a disservice by being so adament about player personality.  
In fact, it parallels what I had to say about the Faces post from a few days ago.  If what you want is performance, why select off criteria other than performance?  You had to make it through the Piniella hazing to pitch for the M's.  The question is how many pitchers failed the Piniella hazing that could have passed the true test -- getting batters out in MLB?
In defense of Piniella, and others I suppose, you are trying to determine future success and present results only give you a partial picture for the future.  My guess is Piniella figured if you couldn't handle his yelling, how could you handle Yankee stadium in October.  Some people truly have a devil may care attitude, but some people can do great things if they know someone has their back in a time of need, but struggle with self doubt if they feel they are going it alone.  Us versus them provides powerful motivation, motivation that internal hazing and foxhole politics can significantly undermine.