Hurrah! Quade Fired

So far I cannot fault most of the moves the Epstein/Hoyer team has made.  The best is firing Mike Quade.  Quade had some bad luck losing two starters in the first week of the season, but he just seemed hopelessly out of his league and he continued to use the same old formulae developed by his predecessor Lou Piniella.  Witness the mindless Tyler Colvin/Kosuke Fukudome "platoon."

On to the search for a successor.  The Cubs and Red Sox seem to be working from the same shortlist, which makes for some interesting scenarios given they still have not settled the Epstein compensation issue.  So far Pete Mackanin, Mike Maddux, and Dave Sveum are on the shared list.  Also mentioned are Dave Martinez and Sandy Alomar, Jr., as well as the inevitable Terry Francona rumor.

I could see either Martinez or Alomar being a good fit.  Both are well-respected bench coaches with the Rays and Indians respectively.  Of the two, I think I would prefer Alomar because I think pitchers and catchers generally have made better game managers.

For the same reason, I would prefer Maddux from the first list.  I can't see what the buzz is on Sveum at all and Mackanin has been around the block a few times and must be 60 or pushing 60 by now.  I'd like to see a younger guy take charge here and grow into the job.

I hope they do not consider Francona.  I think he needs a year off and after that whole September collapse and all the scuttlebutt associated with it, do the Cubs want to saddle themselves with more baggage than they already carry?  Also, enough Red Sox already.

I was frankly disappointed that the criteria outlined seemed to exclude Sandberg from consideration.  I'm not a manic Sandberg supporter, but he should have been given at least an interview.  He'll probably wind up with the Cardinals, which would be really weird.  You wonder whether there is some unrevealed skeleton about Sandberg lurking somewhere in the back of the mind of baseball insiders.  There's always some reason teams come up with to pass him over at the major league level.

One guy whose name has not been mentioned prominently is Bob Brenly.  Brenly might be a great fit here.  He has watched these guys play awful baseball for quite a while, so he ought to be a quick study.

I haven't heard much about the coaching staff other than the usual bromides about how the final decision belongs to the manager.  Jaramillo and Listach are signed for another year.  Personally, they are holdovers from the old regime and I would like to see them go.  With Jaramillo in particular, although he always sounds like he knows what he is doing, the players seem to have become even more aggressive and less thoughtful in their approach, so it may just be his approach and style is not what this team needs.