Quade, Quade We Likes to Poddy

So, the Cubs hired Mike Quade to be their manager for the next two seasons and the immediate reaction amongst Cub fans has not been to shoot off fireworks and start playing the 1812 Overture. (Which is the perfect song of celebration since 1812 is closer to the last Cubs World Series victory than 2010 is).

I understand the disappointment in not hiring Ryne Sandberg, but part of me is relieved. Hiring Ryno as Cubs manager allowed for the possibility of hating Ryno, and I’m not sure if that is a pressure I wanted to live with.

As far as Quade goes, what else that the Cubs have done in the last century has worked? Bringing in big names like Alfonso Soriano, Milton Bradley and uh, Danny Jackson, has traditionally worked out poorly. Sure, we’ve got the Darwin Barney of managers, but perhaps that is the type of thing the Cubs need to spend more time focusing on — development. (Granted, Ryno has been through the Cubs minor-league system and knows who can do what and how to develop them better than anyone, but I am attempting to be as apathetic about this whole thing as possible).

In general, the interim guy turned head man seems to work out rather underwhelmingly, as I witnessed with Mike Davis and Bill Lynch at Indiana. But every rule has an exception, or something. Maybe Quade will be that exception. Right? At least he fit the all-important category of “Potential Cubs managerial candidate my dad played high school basketball against.” I believe my dad’s exact line was “I had six blocks on him. They called five of them fouls.”

Also, if the Brewers are smart, they hire Sandberg to manage them. If nothing else, it’ll make their games with their biggest rival a hell of a lot more interesting. Of course, counting on someone to make a savvy move in Wisconsin may be asking for too much. (Oh, sick burn!)