Mike Quade Says “You Gotta Perform” While Talking About Someone Else and Other Bullets

Mike Quade’s criticism of young middle infielders Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney certainly wasn’t the harshest criticism they’ve received in their careers, nor will it be the last criticism they receive. But the public nature of it is what’s really getting to me. Maybe if today wasn’t an off-day, the comments wouldn’t have created such a tempest.

  • During his comments, Mike Quade actually said these words: “They need to understand the awesome responsibility of playing second and short at the big league level. I think they do, but it’s more than understanding. You gotta perform.” Swap in “managing” for “playing second and short,” and Quade just wrote his own Big League obituary.
  • For what it’s worth, Darwin Barney agreed with his manager’s criticism. “I agree with him 100 percent,” Barney said. “(He and Castro) handle every ball, relays, throws into the infield. Everything goes through us. We have to be more energized. You look at this team and you say to yourself that you have to decided ‘how can we be better?'”
  • Quade has suggested that Randy Wells’ spot in the Cubs’ rotation might be jeopardy. “He needs to make progress,” Quade said. “I need to see him pitch like he has in the past. I’m hoping for as good an outing as we’ve seen from him.” Setting aside my personal feelings about how, in the past, Wells has been one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball, I have to ask: if Wells is yanked from the rotation, who replaces him? Ramon Ortiz? What the hell good does that do? If anyone but a YOUNG guy who has a small chance of being a starter for the Cubs in the future is used to replace Wells in the rotation, I’m going to flip my freaking lid.
  • David Haugh says at least part of the reason Tom Ricketts and Pat Gillick may not have “officially” had a conversation is because Gillick remains a nominal employee of the Phillies, and such a conversation would be tampering. I have to disagree with Haugh – that’s not a reason that the conversation hasn’t happened. That’s a reason to strongly deny that the conversation happened.
  • Phil Rogers says the Yankees’ theoretical interest in Alfonso Soriano has dried up in the last few weeks, what with Soriano sucking and all.
  • Bruce Levine hosted one of his chats earlier this week. Usually I recap them, but I didn’t find anything particularly new or useful in this one (and, I hate to say, there are some mistakes). But, I figured I’d at least pass you the chat in a bullet, as it theoretically has some Cubs rumors in it. Here’s Levine’s list of the five most likely Cubs to be traded.
  • Gordon Wittenmyer put together a retread list of Jim Hendry’s best and worst moves as GM. You can literally guess every single thing on the list before clicking that link.
  • The Cubs have made at least one error in nine straight games. That’s the longest such stretch for them since 1987.
  • For those of you who enjoy Tim Sheridan’s Boys of Spring – an invaluable site in the Spring, I must say – he’s trying to produce/promote a documentary, and needs folks’ help. Tim is the PA announcer in Mesa for Spring Training, so he certainly has a unique voice on the subject of Cubs’ baseball. If you pledge to help, you get some cool free stuff, too. Here’s a trailer of sorts for the doc, so give it a look:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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