« on: October 19, 2010, 03:31:29 PM »
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101019&content_id=15713804&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chcCubs choose to stay with Quade as manager
Successful audition as interim skipper results in two-year deal
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com | 10/19/10 12:04 PM ET
CHICAGO -- After 17 seasons and 2,378 games in such towns as Macon, Scranton, Huntsville and Des Moines, plus another seven years as a big league coach, Mike Quade has made it.
The Cubs announced Tuesday they will keep Quade as manager, signing him to a two-year contract with a club option for a third, after he steered the team to a 24-13 record during a six-week tryout. You can remove the "interim" label from his name.
"I don't know how anybody could've done better than he did," Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez said of Quade after the regular season finale on Oct. 3.
Quade was selected over Ryne Sandberg, which will upset more than a few Cubs fans who wanted the Hall of Fame second baseman back at Wrigley Field and in the dugout. Sandberg spent the past four years managing in the Cubs' Minor League system, including this past season at Triple-A Iowa. Sandberg, 51, was named the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year after leading the Iowa Cubs to an 82-62 record. He led Double-A Tennessee to the Southern League championship series in 2009, and spent two seasons as the manager at Class A Peoria.
Sandberg had talked to Cubs general manager Jim Hendry about the big league job after the 2006 season, but was told he needed experience. He did what the Cubs asked; what Sandberg will do now is to be determined.
Others considered for the job included Eric Wedge, who was named manager of the Seattle Mariners this week, and former Diamondbacks and Mariners manager Bob Melvin. Quade is the third manager to be named by Hendry, who gave Dusty Baker a four-year contract, starting in 2003, and hired Lou Piniella in October 2006.
Quade, 53, took over for Piniella on Aug. 23 and is the fifth Cubs manager to post a .600 or better winning percentage as a mid-season replacement. Whitey Lockman did so in 1972 after replacing Leo Durocher, guiding the Cubs to a 39-26 mark. Others to accomplish the feat include Frank Chance in 1905 (55-33), Charlie Grimm in 1932 (37-18) and Gabby Hartnett in 1938 (44-27).
The Cubs won eight of their 12 series under Quade. They won 11 series under Piniella, who retired early to return home to Tampa, Fla., and take care of family matters, including his ill mother.
It was an impressive turnaround for a team that had gone 8-21 from the All-Star break until Aug. 22, which was the date of Piniella's last game. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League Central with a 75-87 record.
Chicago is home for Quade. He was born in suburban Evanston, which is an easy train ride from Wrigley Field, and used to go to Cubs games as a youngster. The 2010 season was his fourth as the team's third base coach. He had spent four seasons prior to joining Piniella's staff as the Cubs' Triple-A manager, finishing first in 2004 and '06.
Known as "Q," he is the sixth Cubs manager born in Illinois, joining Albert Spalding, Hank O'Day, Phil Cavarretta, Lou Boudreau and Jim Marshall.
On the last day of the regular season, Oct. 3, Quade said the way the Cubs responded when he took over was beyond expectations.
"We always knew what kind of baseball guy Mike was," Hendry said in Houston that day. "I think a lot of people were surprised when we named him the manager for the rest of the season and he's done nothing but enhance his situation and be strongly considered at the end.
"For a guy who hasn't managed since his Minor League days and been a third-base coach for a while, he got right back on the horse and did a terrific job. You'd expect a guy who hadn't done that for a few years to have some hiccups along the way but I thought he managed the game extremely well."
The Cubs faced playoff contenders such as Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Francisco and San Diego during Quade's very public audition. He felt good about his chances to get the job full-time.
"Maybe the most important thing for me is I feel good that in spite of believing you could do this and in spite of training to do this, well, guess what? Now I got to do it," he said. "I've been comfortable doing it, it's exactly what I thought it would be, it's been fun, it's a challenge. Very seldom does everything you think about take place this way, and it's a tribute to all the people in the Minor Leagues who I've been around that I was this prepared to do it."
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