Cubs name Mike Quade Manager

[J.R.]

This is a big ol' "Meh" for me. I put very little stock in Quade's record at the end of the year. This seems to be a, "We're rebuilding, so let's not spend a bunch of money on a big-name... Maybe we'll even catch lightning in a bottle," type of decision.

 

Given the payroll situation and the Cubs' debt, there really was no other choice. We may not really start living again until 2013.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I love the fact that this is only a 2 year deal, which doesn't prevent the Cubs from doing a complete housecleaning after 2011 if necessary. If Hendry does get fired, the new GM would not necessarily be stuck with an incumbent manager.

[drcub1908]

to me this means several things..

1. behind the scenes, quietly Girardi was not interested in the job right now..

2. they feel Sandberg is not ready

3. more importantly...the Cubs will be (AGAIN) rebuilding as they remove or larger contracts expire..

and the Cubs will not be winning for the next 2 -3 years..

[Dallas Green]

So Quade is the first interim Cubs manager since Gene Michael ('86-'87) to earn the job outright for the following year.

 

That worked out swell.

 

Stick was not a interim guy, he was hired shortly after Frey was fired. Dallas Green picked him out of the AL Red book, no joke

[Old Style]

Curious timing of this news.

 

Why?

Because there was a lot of chatter about Girardi being the top choice, so I figured there wouldn't be any announcements from the Cubs until after the Yankees were done this season.

[nick23]

Anyone reading the Levine chat on ESPN right now? May be the worst thing I've ever read. Says Maddux could've been the manager if he wanted the job.

[erik316wttn]

He got good results out of the young players after the season was lost, and they actually looked like they were playing again instead of just going through the motions like they were under Lou. I'm willing to give this a chance and see how it works out.

 

See I don't know how much creedence we should give what happened in September. I certainly don't think it should hurt his evaluation, but I'm not sure how much it helped.

 

In that "amazing" September run the Cubs had here are their team hitting numbers with NL ranking in ():

 

BA:.232 (13th)

OBP:.305 (12th)

SLG: .343 (15th)

OPS: .648 (14th)

OPS+: 84 (14th)

Runs: 108 (14th)

 

Now here are their numbers for all of 2010 (including September:

 

BA:.257 (7th)

OBP:.320 (11th)

SLG: .401 (9th)

OPS: .721 (10th)

OPS+: 98 (10th)

Runs: 108 (10th)

 

So they hit miserably, won a bunch of close games and had above normal pitching. I'm not saying I disagree with Quade as the manager. I'm saying that for me it's not because he got our hitters to play particularly well, because they didn't....they played worse.

 

I didn't know that, but to be fair wasn't most of September AAA-level lineups?

[erik316wttn]

Anyone reading the Levine chat on ESPN right now? May be the worst thing I've ever read. Says Maddux could've been the manager if he wanted the job.

 

I'd take a huge leap of faith and made Maddux the GM and can Hendry, but this has approximately the same likelihood of happening as me winning the lottery twice in the same day while on my honeymoon with Brooklyn Decker.

[Keener98]

Anyone reading the Levine chat on ESPN right now? May be the worst thing I've ever read. Says Maddux could've been the manager if he wanted the job.

 

Not sure how much of that I believe. The Cubs made Sandberg go to the minors and coach so he could get experience, why would Maddux be any different?

[jersey cubs fan]

Curious timing of this news.

 

Why?

Because there was a lot of chatter about Girardi being the top choice, so I figured there wouldn't be any announcements from the Cubs until after the Yankees were done this season.

 

Then maybe Girardi wasn't really the top choice and/or he made it clear he wasn't interested. I wouldn't call it curious timing.

[davell]

Maybe it's because of the perception of Maddux being the smartest player of his era? Levine acted like no one would have had an issue with Maddux being named manager and also insinuated that Maddux does eventually want to manage, just not right now.

 

I have to admit, I'd have fallen into that category honestly. If Maddux would have been named manager, I wouldn't have been upset one bit. Can't quantify it with a reason either.

[jersey cubs fan]

Anyone reading the Levine chat on ESPN right now? May be the worst thing I've ever read. Says Maddux could've been the manager if he wanted the job.

 

Not sure how much of that I believe. The Cubs made Sandberg go to the minors and coach so he could get experience, why would Maddux be any different?

 

Sandberg was essentially out of baseball for a decade, no? I think that had as much to do with it as anything. Maddux has been in the game.

[jersey cubs fan]

Maybe it's because of the perception of Maddux being the smartest player of his era? Levine acted like no one would have had an issue with Maddux being named manager and also insinuated that Maddux does eventually want to manage, just not right now.

 

I have to admit, I'd have fallen into that category honestly. If Maddux would have been named manager, I wouldn't have been upset one bit. Can't quantify it with a reason either.

 

He wasn't obsessed with base runners, so he probably wouldn't be obsessed with the running game and all that. I'd guess he'd be pretty smart.

[Old Style]

Curious timing of this news.

 

Why?

Because there was a lot of chatter about Girardi being the top choice, so I figured there wouldn't be any announcements from the Cubs until after the Yankees were done this season.

 

Then maybe Girardi wasn't really the top choice and/or he made it clear he wasn't interested.

Excellent analysis. The MLB Network would like to offer you a job dispensing your baseball genius to idiots like me.

[UMFan83]

Anyone reading the Levine chat on ESPN right now? May be the worst thing I've ever read. Says Maddux could've been the manager if he wanted the job.

 

Not sure how much of that I believe. The Cubs made Sandberg go to the minors and coach so he could get experience, why would Maddux be any different?

 

Because the Cubs might actually want Maddux to coach the team, not just keep him busy for 4 years just so they don't burn bridges with a legend.

[UMFan83]

Curious timing of this news.

 

Why?

Because there was a lot of chatter about Girardi being the top choice, so I figured there wouldn't be any announcements from the Cubs until after the Yankees were done this season.

 

Then maybe Girardi wasn't really the top choice and/or he made it clear he wasn't interested.

Excellent analysis. The MLB Network would like to offer you a job dispensing your baseball genius to idiots like me.

 

If that was obvious to you, then the timing isn't very curious at all is it?

[Outshined_One]

It's worth noting that Mike Quade was once a hotshot managerial prospect. He won minor league manager of the year twice (1991 and 1993) and was also one of the finalists for the Cubs' managerial job back in 2006. Plus, he's been with the Cubs since 2003.

 

Considering how much time he's logged in the minors and with the Cubs, I think he has a much better claim to being "owed" this job than Sandberg. The players seemed to like him and he didn't seem like much of a bonehead with things like pitcher usage and lineups (save for how he used Koyie Hill). The Castro thing was kind of dumb, but whatever.

 

This is better than overpaying for Girardi.

[jersey cubs fan]

Excellent analysis. The MLB Network would like to offer you a job dispensing your baseball genius to idiots like me.

 

No thanks, I'm good.

[Soul]

I'm not excited about this, but I'm also thinking it's probably a pretty good arrangement for us right now.

 

Quade gets his chance. It's only 2 years so unless he can work a miracle or two, you re-tool after some contracts expire and make a different hire.

 

If he does manage to outperform expectations, then so much the better.

 

Low expectations FTW.

[Old Style]

If that was obvious to you, then the timing isn't very curious at all is it?

It's obvious now that the Cubs have hired Quade that either all the chatter about Girardi being the top choice was wrong or that he was the top choice but made it clear to the Cubs that he wasn't interested. Got it now?

[jersey cubs fan]

If that was obvious to you, then the timing isn't very curious at all is it?

It's obvious now that the Cubs have hired Quade that either all the chatter about Girardi being the top choice was wrong or that he was the top choice but made it clear to the Cubs that he wasn't interested. Got it now?

 

But why was the timing curious? It's been reported it could happen soon. Quade has made a ton of sense from the beginning and a lot of people more or less assumed he was getting the job. What was it about the timing that makes you think it's curious? It would be curious timing to name Joe Girardi manager right now. It's not curious to name Mike Quade manager right now.

[daske17]

It's worth noting that Mike Quade was once a hotshot managerial prospect. He won minor league manager of the year twice (1991 and 1993) and was also one of the finalists for the Cubs' managerial job back in 2006. Plus, he's been with the Cubs since 2003.

 

Considering how much time he's logged in the minors and with the Cubs, I think he has a much better claim to being "owed" this job than Sandberg. The players seemed to like him and he didn't seem like much of a bonehead with things like pitcher usage and lineups (save for how he used Koyie Hill). The Castro thing was kind of dumb, but whatever.

 

This is better than overpaying for Girardi.

 

This. I don't know how people can say Sandberg "deserved" the job. Just because you publicly petition for a job doesn't mean you deserve it. He's four years of minor league experience and no major league experience. If he was anyone else, he wouldn't have even had a sniff of this job.

 

Then Phil Rogers has this to say:

 

If anyone could have been the perfect manager for the Cubs, it would be someone who understands the culture that has built up over 102 years of also-ran status. Fans would have loved yelling when Sandberg went on the field to argue calls, if anything intensifying the feelings they have for the team.

 

Big bag of NO.

[Outshined_One]

Just because you publicly petition for a job doesn't mean you deserve it.

8-[

[jersey cubs fan]

The whole "embracing/understanding the culture" thing disgusts me. You need a GM who gets better baseball players and a manager who won't screw it up. It's not about culture and history and the unique nature of the job.

[davell]

The whole "embracing/understanding the culture" thing disgusts me. You need a GM who gets better baseball players and a manager who won't screw it up. It's not about culture and history and the unique nature of the job.

 

Winner.

 

 

The whole embracing the culture thing is mind numbingly stupid. The next time we're in the playoffs and in a tight spot, what does "embracing the culture even mean?" Does it mean that our manager comes out to the mound and tells Z "hey, this is where we're supposed to lose, so make a good pitch here" I mean, come on, finding a guy who "understands" our losing tradition is probably the last thing we needed to be looking for. It appears to me this whole concept was brought on by a few of Lou's comments at the end of his dead-ass final days about "cubbie occurences and not realizing how "tough" this job was going to be.