It came as a shock to many first that Lou Piniella would be seeing his last game as Cubs manager yesterday, and that third base coach Mike Quade was named as coach for the rest of the year.
↵Many expected Alan Trammell to get the job, but instead it went to Quade, who is being considered for the managerial position next year. Trammell is not. Said Quade to the press after a workout:
↵↵↵“It’s something that I’m excited about. If I started thanking people, it would be like a bad Academy Awards speech or something.â€
↵
Quade has moved up thorugh the ranks. He was an outfielder in the Pittsburgh minor league orgnaizaton from 1979-1982 after which he retired and began his coaching career.
↵Quade, a Chicago area native, was a minor league manager for the Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies and Oakland Athletics farm teams from 1985-1999. He became a first base coach for Oakland in 2000-2002. He was manager of Triple-A Iowa for the Cubs from 2003-2007, where his record was 289-279. He has been outfield and, more recently, third base coach for the Cubs since 2007, and now becomes the 51st manager in Cubs franchaise history. That’s 17 years and 2,378 games of experience as a manager at the minor league level and seven years of coaching experience at the major league level.
↵Lou will be missed, but now the Quade era, short as it may be, begins with a game against the Nationals in Washington tonight.