Mike Quade Needs A Miracle

At the end of last season, Cubs players put their complete faith into manager Mike Quade and that alone was enough for Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and chairman Tom Ricketts to anoint Quade as the full-time manager and remove the interim label.  Now, the tides have turned. Instead the Cubs players putting their faith in Quade, Quade will have to put his faith into his players for the second half of the season.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune reports that in order for manager Mike Quade to keep his position after the season, two things have to happen:

"But if Quade doesn’t want to go down in history as the Cubs’ version of Bevington — a short-term manager who never catches fire with the paying customers — a couple things probably have to happen:First, the Cubs have to put on a miracle run and at least finish .500. (In case you haven’t heard, they have yet to win three straight games.) Then he has to hope Hendry returns for the final year of his contract in 2012, since their fates are tied together. The Cubs players saved Quade last September. Now he has to save himself. Chicago Tribune"

As Sullivam states in his report, it would be viewed as a miracle if the Cubs went on any type of run this season. After all, the Cubs have yet to win three straight games this season. Couple that with the fact that the Cubs will probably undergo some type of a youth movement within the next month, and it makes it close to impossible that the Cubs will go on some type of run. If that is the case, it would be an ironic twist to Quade’s short-lived career as Cubs manager. Seeing as he was awarded the position because of a late season run, and he could very well be fired because the Cubs’ lack of ability to go on a run.

The interesting thing is that Sullivan speculates that Quade may lose his job, even if Hendry is retained as the Cubs general manager. That would not make sense. Because there is no reason that Hendry should be given another shot at hiring a manager. Hendry has failed with the hiring of Dusty Baker, and Lou Piniella in the past and it appears that he is going to fail again with Quade. It would be a mistake if he is allowed to hire yet another manager.

Having said that, there is no secret that the Cubs set-up Quade to be the fall-guy if things went wrong this season. Quade’s relatively cheap contractmakes it easier for Hendry or Ricketts to fire the first-year manager if things went wrong this season. No, the disappointment is not exclusively the players fault. There have numerous occasions where Quade’s inept managing has cost the Cubs games, and his stubborness when it comes to certain scenarios has not helped the Cubs either.

Someone will have answer for the Cubs’ failures this season; if it is not Hendry, then Quade would seemingly be the only other legitimate candidate.