DonS, a long suffering fan of TBZ, emailed me a response to my article in favor of the Cubs hiring Mike Quade. He makes some good points against the hiring I’m posting it tonight. -tbz
I said the following the day Lou left: “Lou leaving in mid-season” is the worst thing that could happen to the Cubs. What if the “Interim Flunky” hits a hot streak? Now you’re stuck with him.
Is that exactly what happened?. Quade went 24-13 (that projects out to 105 wins in a full season). So now the Cubs think this guy is the answer.
The guys on WSCR think this is a great move. But keep in mind: That’s a bunch of White Sox fans who hope the Cubs lose every game. Some endorsement, huh?
Nothing against Quade. But the guy spent 17 years in the Cub minor league system. In that time, I never heard him rumored to be a managerial candidate at the major league level, for the Cubs or for anybody else. Now, based on 37 games, he gets the job?
One More Thing: I said on the day of the hire, “If I am Ryno, I am outta there.” I heard yesterday that Ryno has left the Cub Organ-I-Zation. It sounds like he told Jim Hendry where he could stick his “Go back to Iowa” idea.
Seems obvious to me that the Cubs NEVER intend to hire him to be the manager. It’s not like they bypassed him for a proven manager, like Girardi or Torre. They had told him, “Go to the minor leagues, ride busses, work hard, … ” Something negative to Ryno must have happened in those four years.
Or maybe Jim Hendry is every bit the stumbling dunderhead that his critics think he is.
As the late Mike Royko often said, “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.”
“Seems obvious to me that the Cubs NEVER intend to hire him to be the manager. ”
on that point, I would agree with you, Don.
It seems the best decision was made in spite of the Cubs intentions and perhaps for the wrong reasons (I agree, no one should be hired for a 24-13 run at the end of the season when your team is out of it).
Yet, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.