Ryne Sandberg Could Be a PR Boost and Other Bullets

Mike Quade is the best in Major League Baseball! … at being ejected. He leads the league with seven ejections.

  • It was Carlos Pena’s homer-cum-double that led to Quade’s ejection yesterday. Quade thought Starlin Castro should have been allowed to score from first base. Pena disagreed. “That’s tough,” Pena said. “Even if [Castro] takes off with contact, that’s a pretty clean pick-up and throw back in. [Tony] Campana probably would’ve had a tough time scoring with that low line drive off the wall.” Quade clearly has his players’ support.
  • Nick Cafardo notes the boost of goodwill that would come along with a Ryne Sandberg hiring in the offseason. “After another successful minor league season, Sandberg may have thrust himself into the Cubs managerial picture again. Obviously, with no GM or president of baseball operations in place, it’s difficult to name a manager, but there are Cubs personnel who feel that hiring Sandberg – if and when Mike Quade is let go – would be a major public relations bump for owner Tom Ricketts. Here’s a Hall of Fame player willing to go back to the minors to learn his new job. He has the lunchpail mentality that would be embraced in Chicago, let alone his name and popularity.”
  • Quade on helping his players get to statistical milestones: “[A]ll bets are off if you’re in the hunt [for a playoff spot, but] if I can juggle something or do something for somebody that will give them an opportunity to one of those important spots on the stat sheet then I will do so.”
  • Starlin Castro knows he’s had a good season, but isn’t enjoying it much because the Cubs are so bad.
  • If the Cubs average just over 28,000 for each of their last three home games, the team will pass 3 million in attendance once again. That will make eight straight years.
  • 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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