Baseball lifer Mike Quade earned the chance to manage the Cubs moving forward. After replacing lame duck Lou Piniella, he guided the Small Bears back on track – posting a 24-13 record as interim manager.
But owner Tom Ricketts and general manager Jim Hendry still had a difficult call to make. Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg built solid managerial credentials of his own.
He spent four years running minor league teams and earning Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year honors with the Iowa Cubs this season. He remains an iconic sports figure in the Windy City.
Still, the Cubs chose Quade -- with the idea that perhaps Sandberg could join the big club as bench coach.
But with Ryno eager to manage at the big league level, would that be a good idea? The man is not happy with the organizataion.
“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed,” Sandberg told ESPN 1000 radio in Chicago. “They told me it went down to the wire, and I was one of the last two guys standing and they made their decision. It's a disappointing day for sure.
“Right now it's digesting everything and just kind of change the wheels and turn in a different direction. I was focused on something and today it's just taking it all in. I spent the four years in the minor leagues to manage at the major league level, so I think that's where my heart is, and that's where my next step is. I think that's where I look next.”
Here is what some of the Windy City pundits thought of the hiring:
David Haugh, Chicago Tribune: “The army of scorned Ryne Sandberg supporters has mobilized. The Joe Girardi contingent still wants to know why the Cubs rushed to judgment. But while Cubdom wraps its head around the idea that your team made a very un-Cublike decision in that it was a sound baseball one, here's a Q tip: Don't underestimate this guy. He's smart, genuine and impressive. I'm not saying Quade instantly will mimic Joe Maddon or Tom Kelly, two examples of successful managers who were relatively unknown until given the opportunity to run a team. But Quade carries many similar traits, a distinct personal style defined by self-assuredness that complements keen baseball acumen.”
Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times: “The Cubs are thinking about expenses, compatibility, rebuilding. Quade will be paid somewhere around $1 million or less per season for his two-year deal, which is roughly $3 million a year less than what Piniella was making at the end. It also means managerial hopeful Ryne Sandberg spent a wasted four years in the Cubs' farm system trying to get the big job. The Hall of Fame second baseman and beloved Cubs hero (a thought here: Aren't all former Cubs, except maybe Don Young and Milton Bradley, beloved?) is broken-hearted and likely done in the organization. For now.”
Jon Greenberg, ESPNChicago.com: “The Cubs tried to buy their way out of a century-long funk when the Tribune Co. opened its checkbook to Hendry following the 2006 season and he nearly got it done. Two first-round sweeps and two empty seasons later, we're back at square one. With new owners and a decreasing payroll, the Cubs have to rely on an improving farm system and a mix of promising young players and aging veterans to compete in an easily winnable NL Central. Quade's style is going to be more direct than Piniella's, and by dint of his personality, more hands-on. He's a coach by trade, of course, and the players are drawn to him.”
Mike Imrem, Daily Herald: “Quade is a career grunt who managed in the minor leagues for 17 seasons and 2,378 games. Sandberg was a career Hall of Fame second baseman for the Cubs who managed in the minors for four seasons. However, length of service as a manager isn’t Quade’s biggest edge over Sandberg. Nor are his previous four seasons as a Cubs coach under Lou Piniella. The biggest difference between Quade and Sandberg is that since 1985 Quade has navigated his way through several organizations, including as a major-league coach with the A’s and Cubs and as a minor-league manager with the Expos and Phillies. Quade saw how other organizations conduct business, some successfully and some less than successfully.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while waiting for the Cardinals to finalize their 2011 coaching staff:
If Mark McGwire is torn about remaining as the everyday hitting coach, why doesn’t he take a part-time gig with the organization? Why not work spring training and then stop by from time to time?
Who is less popular in New York today, Girardi or A.J. Burnett?
What, exactly, was Girardi thinking Tuesday night?
Say, are you looking to spend a half-million dollars to buy one of Michael Jordan's old rides?
Shouldn't there be consequences for heckling a junior football team all night?
Can CC Sabathia step it up a notch under pressure? Will he be able to extend himself physically?
Why can't Kevin Harlan get this excited working a game?
START SPREADING THE NEWS
The Yankees are done. They trail the Rangers 3-1 and Texas has Cliff Lee in reserve, just in case the American League Championship Series reaches Game 7.
Here is what the pundits are writing about this happy turn of events:
Lisa Olson, FanHouse: “Birthed as the Washington Senators in 1961, the Rangers have gone longer than any other team without reaching the World Series. Now Ron Washington, the manager who tested positive for cocaine last spring -- a singular moment of weakness he'll spend a lifetime repairing -- has his team one win away from the Fall Classic. Fantastic story of redemption and second chances, but still weird.”
Jerry Crasnick, ESPN.com: “The outlook for the New York Yankees is getting darker, uglier and hairier by the day. In a strange, inexplicable way, the end of their season is paralleling the growth of San Francisco closer Brian Wilson's beard. There was a time when the Yankees would welcome an overwhelmed opponent to the Bronx for one of these October wars of attrition, and the result was preordained. The New York lineup would run up the pitch count on a helpless fourth starter and flog an outmanned bullpen, and you'd look up after four hours and the Yankees would be exchanging high-fives in the infield. Not this time. The letter from the IRS arrived on Tuesday to inform them the audit was forthcoming. The valet parking guy put a big scratch in the Mercedes. First baseman Mark Teixeira suffered a season-ending hamstring injury. And just when it appeared the Yankees had hit bottom, Sergio Mitre arrived to pitch the top of the ninth.”
Les Carpenter, Yahoo! Sports: “The New York Yankees were made for this month. A roster that costs $206 million isn’t built simply to snatch wild-card berths. It is assembled to swallow teams like the Rangers whole, to devour them the way they did in the first game when Texas’ bullpen crumbled in the face of its first great postseason pressure. But baseball has a strange way of humbling giants, a fact one of the newest Yankees – midsummer acquisition Lance Berkman – pointed out as he stood in the silent, nearly vacant home clubhouse following this 10-3 loss that put New York hours from elimination. ‘We are built for this,’ he said. ‘We have some horses.’ Only the horses have been still.”
Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com: “Calamity has hit the Yankees. The Rangers have snatched the Yankees' innards and are eating them like Halloween candy. They are in rarified air. It's the first time in franchise history the Yankees have trailed an ALCS, 3-1. The team has only trailed a best-of-7 postseason series 3-1 twice: in 1942 and 1958. So the last time the Yankees were in this situation Sputnik was a 1-year-old. This was as humiliating a loss for the Yankees as this proud organization has seen in some time.”
MEGAPHONE
“It's not bad for a fat kid that everyone makes fun of when he runs.”
Rangers catcher Bengie Molina, addressing the media after his three-run homer led Texas to a 10-3 victory over the Yankees.
