'No anxiety' for Cubs' Quade
SAN DIEGO — Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts paid his team a visit Wednesday, the final day of the season.
There were no announcements forthcoming, either about the search for a new general manager or the fate of field manager Mike Quade and his coaching staff.
For his part, Quade said he is feeling no anxiety about his situation, even as the Cubs finished their season with a losing record.
“I don't,” said Quade, the Chicago-area native completing his first full year on the job. “Anxiety is the wrong word. I'm not just blowing through this like it's no big deal, for sure.
“It's always great when things are cleared up, one way or another. You look forward to that day. I'm as anxious to see who they're going to hire and how that's going to play out.
“No anxiety.”
And as he did on the last homestand, Quade reiterated that he feels confident he's coming back and that he's done a good job.
“I hate to repeat myself,” he said. “It hasn't been what you hoped for, but I'm not disappointed in the way I handled things and the way I went about my business.
“Good seasons, bad seasons, you go home and evaluate, and you're always trying to get better. You can't ask those guys in there (the players) to get better and not do the same thing.
“I still feel pretty good about this job and doing what I do. If somebody else has a different thought that comes in here, then they make their decision.”
Ricketts provided no specific update on his search for a new GM to replace Jim Hendry, whom he fired this summer, other than to say: “We'll get it done as fast as we can. It's a big decision. There's no point in rushing it.”
Quade said he had a “courtesy” meeting with Ricketts and that he understands the GM search is “a big organizational decision, and right now, it's bigger than any of us, whether we like it or not.”
He added that it helps his own peace of mind having a contract that runs through next season.
“I'd be less than honest if I said it didn't,” he said. “But again, for 30 years I had one-year contacts in the minor leagues, so I understand that.
“And two, I think it's probably put my focus more on my staff and some players that are in limbo that don't have next year decided than to worry about myself.
“It may give you some security in your thought process, but we like working, you know? We love to work.”
The 54-year-old Quade, a graduate of Prospect High School, took over as Cubs manager in August 2010 after Lou Piniella retired.
Quade led the Cubs to a record of 24-13 for the remainder of the season and kept the job, beating out Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who had managed the Cubs' Class AAA Iowa farm club.
Sandberg left the organization to manage the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A club this year, guiding it into the playoffs.
Until he hears otherwise, Quade says he will go home for the winter and plan for next year.
“That's kind of what I'm planning to do,” he said. “Until something changes that, that's what I'm going to plan to do. There's a lot of work to do this winter when a new GM is in place.
“There's a lot of important decisions to be made, and that's one of them, but there's personnel decisions after that, whether it's us or whether it's that clubhouse. There's a lot of work to do.”
bmiles@dailyherald.com