Earlier this evening, Will Carroll – currently of SI.com – tweeted that the Chicago Cubs would be naming Mike Quade manager as soon as next week, and would be promoting Ryne Sandberg from AAA Iowa to be Quade’s bench coach. Carroll attributed the information to a “good source,” and suggested that other members of the media would soon back him up.
Shortly thereafter, Carroll back off a bit, stating that another source who is “very wired into the Cubs” contradicted Carroll’s earlier report. Specifically, his second source suggested that the timing was probably a bit off. That is to say that the Cubs’ decision, as we’ve noted here for some time, is not likely to be quite so soon.
Not only would the timing of naming Quade manager next week be surprising (i.e., before the Yankees have exited the playoffs, allowing the Cubs to reach out to Joe Girardi), but having Sandberg on as his bench coach would be surprising for at least two reasons: 1.) Sandberg has made it very clear that he wants the big job, and has not suggested that he’d be willing to serve as a bench coach, and 2.) having Sandberg just over Quade’s shoulder feels like it’s setting Quade up to fail.
For what it’s worth, Gordon Wittenmyer agrees that having the two together on the same staff is a long-shot, to say the least.