Cubs manager Mike Quade: What a day ... weird, I guess

Cubs manager Mike Quade agreed Friday was a “weird” day.

Quade had just watched his team come from behind to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Tyler Colvin’s pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Earlier in the day, Quade’s boss, general manager Jim Hendry was fired. That does not bode well for Quade, who most likely will be let go when a new GM comes on board.

“What a day,” Quade said. “Oh, man. Just a great comeback win. Contributions all over the place ... That would be the understatement of the day: weird, I guess.”

Quade, a Chicago-area native and a graduate of Prospect High School, was a longtime minor-league manager before becoming the Cubs’ third-base coach in 2007 under manager Lou Piniella.

When Piniella retired last August, Quade got the job for the remainder of the season. He beat out Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg in the fall to retain the job.

When asked his thoughts about his own situation, Quade said: “Nothing. This is not a day for me. It’s the furthest thing from my mind. You work for a guy. He’s a friend. This is a tough day for all of us, but I have no time to concern myself with me on a day like this.”

Team owner Tom Ricketts would not give Quade a vote of confidence. He did however, talk up farm director Oneri Fleita and scouting director Tim Wilken as “A-plus players in this business.”

“In that situation, if the GM is coming in, you can strongly recommend and give your thoughts and opinions on what people are most valuable to your organization, and those are two great examples, just two of many great people here,” Ricketts said.

His tone changed on the subject of manager.

“What I said about the manager’s job, the GM has to make the decision himself, and it’s not the owner’s job to second-guess that,” Ricketts said.

He’s golden:One person escaping blame Friday was team president Crane Kenney, a holdover from the Tribune Co. #147;The way it works around here, and maybe it wasn#146;t the way it worked a couple years ago, is Crane is the team president, and he#146;s responsible for the business operations,#148; Tom Ricketts said. #147;The GM reports to me and is responsible for the baseball operations. On the business side, we#146;ve also made a handful of changes over the past year-and-a-half, and they#146;ve been very, very positive.#147;I think Crane is doing a good job in the role that he has today, which is running the business of the team. And in terms of accountability, he has accountability. He knows that if something happens on the business side that doesn#146;t go right, we#146;ll start heading in the same direction. He knows he#146;s wearing it. And I think he#146;s up for that challenge.#148;The right call:Even though he was notified he had been fired, Jim Hendry made the call to put pitcher Carlos Zambrano on the disqualified list last weekend after Zambrano left Turner Field in Atlanta before last Friday night#146;s game was over and hinted at retirement. #147;Obviously, that was Jim#146;s decision, but we were in close communication, effectively that next morning,#148; Tom Ricketts said. #147;I think he handled it properly. Obviously, it#146;s a real unfortunate situation. His behavior was unacceptable to this team and to this organization.#147;Right now, it#146;s become an issue between the players union and baseball. There will be some discussion on what are the next best steps to address. Suffice it to say, I 100 percent support Jim and our decision to put him on the disqualified list, and I believe strongly that his behavior was unacceptable.#148;Big gathering:Friday#146;s Wrigley Field crowd of 42,343 was the largest of the season and the largest since the 1978 homer opener, when 45,777 jammed the park.