Quade On Silva: “I Have No F—ing Time For That”

One thing that has been lacking out of the Cubs’ managerial post for the past four seasons has been that sense of fire that most fans desire. Coming into his first season as Cubs’ manager, Mike Quade was believed to be a laid back guy who does his talking behind the scenes. But after hearing comments made about his pitching coach Mark Riggins from Carlos Silva, Quade resorted to his inner Ozzie Guillen and discussed his former player.

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, here is Mike Quade’s response to the parting shots given by Carlos Silva…

While usually I am not a big supporter of the sentiment that managers have to show fire in order to prove that they are doing a good job, but in this case I applaud Quade for what he said about Silva. Quade had to come to the defense of his coaching staff and front office, and that is what he did. Instead of offering no comment–as we may have seen from a recent Cubs’ manager– Quade went after Silva, and basically said he was a classless piece of…without saying those actual words.

Another thing to take from Quade’s comments is when he said that it was his decision to start Cashner over Silva, not the decision given to him by general manager Jim Hendry or any other member in the front office. It goes back to the whole principle of accountability, and why Quade preaches it to his team. Meaning that he is not afraid to sit a veteran if need be, just like he is not afraid to sit a young player. Go back to the end of  last season, when Quade benched Starlin Castro for a short period of time. Like I’ve mentioned before with Quade’s principles, playing time is earned on the field.

It also is important that general manager Jim Hendry did not force Quade’s hand by putting Silva on the 25 man roster. That may have been one of the wrong perceptions fans had about Hendry in recent years, as many thought he demanded playing time for the highly priced veterans of the team. But after how the Carlos Silva situation played out, it is clear that a player’s salary does not effect Hendry’s thinking one way or another.

Now, like we did with Milton Bradley (except Paul Sullivan), lets just move past the Carlos Silva era and leave him out of headlines that concern the Chicago Cubs.