The Chicago Cubs have won an impressive 17 of 24 games under interim manager Mike Quade, though its hard to point to decisions Quade has made that have led to wins – the players are simply playing better. If the team continues to win, are the Cubs going to have any choice but to give him the job?
Mike Quade, who looks like a favorite to land the full-time Cubs managing job with every new Midas-touch move he pulls off, already had the team’s best road trip of the year assured before the Cubs routed the Florida Marlins on Sunday.
Fielding a lineup that included seven starters who spent most of the season in the minor leagues — including three players without a big-league hit this year — the Cubs still beat the Marlins 13-3 to extend their winning streak to a two-year high of six.
”Is that fun or what?” said Quade, who was surprised to learn that at 17-7 he has the best 24-game start for a Cubs manager since 1932, when Charlie Grimm — the last manager to have the Cubs in a World Series — started 19-5 after replacing Rogers Hornsby.
”I go back to [rookie outfielder Brad] Snyder because he gets his first major-league start and a big base hit, and he’s all grins — and why wouldn’t he be?” Quade said. ”But all of them … it’s fun to watch. Winning is great, but when you get kids to go out and give you a lift like that, that’s huge.”
Sunday was Quade’s last chance until the last weekend of the season to face a team out of contention, so he used it to play the young guys. It worked well enough to finish off an 8-1 road trip that was the best in Cubs history for a trip that long — another fact that surprised Quade. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
It would, of course, be completely irresponsible to hand the job to Quade because the Cubs won a number of meaningless games under his watch – many a team has made that mistake.
That is not to say that Quade might not ultimately be the best man for the job; it simply means that the Cubs’ performance right now should be a mere bullet on his resume, not the sole determining factor.
You’re of course right, Ace. I think that even Jimbo knows that.
But you never know.