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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 7, 2010Mike QuadeLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA Q. What do you think of the panel? MIKE QUADE: What a great idea, the Commissioner or whoever came up to that, you can't be a young manager and not look up there and think, I hope I can accomplish a half or quarter of what they did. What a great group of people and obviously having worked with one of those guys for four years was huge, too, and I said it before, Lou doesn't bring me on his staff and he doesn't have to, then who knows where I'm at now and I'm fairly certain it would be a long shot sitting here, even longer than most of you thought it was anyway. So very pressure appreciative of love check Lou obviously. Sorry Bobby had to leave but good stuff. Q. Has it sunk in you are the manager of the Chicago Cubs? MIKE QUADE: I just tend to -- okay, got the job, thank God for the opportunity, and let's go work. I probably, Opening Day Spring Training, will be a lot of fun and that's when it will really be like, okay, let's get after it. But yeah I'm looking forward to it. Enjoying a little downtime but looking forward to it. Q. So the fishing has been good? MIKE QUADE: Okay. You guys brought this cold weather with you, my goodness, are you kidding me. It's been okay. Took one of your folks out there with me but he can't fish at all. Enjoyed the day. It's been good. Sprinkling a little recreation with running around doing meetings. Take a break after this and get back in January. Q. You were going to see sterling -- MIKE QUADE: I never remember it being this tough for me to get to the island years ago. I have not been there yet and now I'm looking at making that maybe my first trip in January, get through all the bowl games and get on a plane and go. We could not get the scheduling. We had a ton of organizational people, and one more didn't seem right -- so we put that out and busy and I were going to go after, I was going to take bus with me because he knows the ropes over there better than I do as far as the academy. Now we were going to go like right after this. Well, and this would have been a real mess because of Ronny's pass and I'm going to shoot into Chicago Thursday or Friday and we had kind of planned, well the academy is closed for Christmas and Starlang is out of town for four days so looks like my window has become January, early January. Q. You got the players attention both the veterans and the young guys when you took over the team. What is your challenge for keeping that attention when you start out in Spring Training? MIKE QUADE: The attention part, I believe they understand what I'm all about, and what I expect. And there's plenty to build on from that. We talked, 4- to six weeks does not make a season so we want to see if we can't expand that intensity and success and progress for the kids that we finished the season with. The challenge is to get better every day, isn't it. It really is. And there's nobody it, not you guys, not us, not players, nobody that can't get better every day. And then collectively as a club to get better. So I think that there's plenty of stuff to focus on with each individual and what various people have to do. We'll see how the club gets put together and boy, they are working like a son of a gun on that. I think just coming every day to try to figure out how we can get better. Q. Do you play with lineups? MIKE QUADE: It's really funny because like I said it's a great opportunity, but whether it's my training for a thousand years in the Minor Leagues or whatever, I think you need to stay flexible. I don't know what's going to transpire here at the meetings or in the next few weeks before we get to Mesa. So I would hate to get carried away with all of the rest of this and amazingly for some reason, I don't have trouble separating it out when I'm away from the game. I did some preparation coming in here for a few days. When I leave here, I'll be anxious -- I'm a real anxious observer, obviously and to follow what Jim and Randy and our scouting group is going for sure. But I can leave it behind and I like to, and that's part of me recharging and getting ready for Spring Training. Q. How involved in this do you get, this whole Winter Meetings as far as input? MIKE QUADE: I would like to think I'm a really good student right now, and I mean that. I've been doing this for a lot of years but never have I been in this position at these meetings and seen the work that these guys do. If I am familiar with a player, be it somebody I've had, or somebody I've watched, you know, extensively, then my opinion is asked for, it's there. But when you see the work these guys do, they have seen every club, both colleagues, and the big picture that Jim and Randy have to have is something that I probably don't have. We can all put together a wish list. Put it together. But it's not practice. There's budgets to be concerned with. I capable in here thinking I'm going to learn a lot and in two days I learned a great deal. Q. What is your take on the development on Andrew Cashner? Is it vital to declare what he is, starter or reliever? MIKE QUADE: I don't think so and I think he is capable of doing what needs to be done. Just like we talked about earlier, it's a theme that you just can't get away from, he needs to get better, his breaking ball needs to come along and command and the rest of it. Whatever role he's in, it's going to be important for him to get better. I think he just likes to pitch, I really do. I think he had a lot of fun at the end of the year and hopefully he's had a great winter and comes into Spring Training, just give me the ball, whatever. That's what I expect from a young guy with that kind of talent. Q. Same with Samardzija? MIKE QUADE: Yeah, and Samardzija has got a way to go and Cash made a lot of progress and now we need to get Samardzija going and make that kind of progress and become a more effective pitcher as well. Q. When you hear that the Cubs do not have very many economic resources this off-season -- MIKE QUADE: I just don't know how, you approach things excited and optimistic. You find a way to get it done however you can do it whether it's mixing and matching or trading or whether they do have some money. One way or the other, I'm going to manage the club that is put together when I get there and I don't think it does me any good, somewhat like fooling around or not fooling around with lineups, you get your heart set on something and band a trade comes. I like the group I finished with last year. I owe them a lot and they will get a lot from me and we'll see how it shapes up this spring. Q. Can you talk about your new pitching coach? MIKE QUADE: Yeah, my kind of guy. Has he spent more years down there than me? Less? (Laughing). We are pretty close. Anyway, and I mean that sincerely, this is a guy that has learned his craft well and has had years to do it. You know, during my stint, I think we talked about that on a number of occasions and meticulous detailed guy and knows a lot of the young kids and knows the organization in and out. And our veteran group knows him. I would like to think it would be a smooth transition. Am I going to miss Larry absolutely? Yes, as a friend and a pitching coach but Riggins is the right fit and he'll do a good job. Q. What's your take on the division this year? MIKE QUADE: Go Cubs. Again you have a nice club in Cincinnati that's young and the Cardinals are always tough. We need to worry about the Cubs. Houston had a good year. There's plenty, you can look out and go, we think this, no, no, all I'm concerned about is our club and we know we have to play better baseball if we are going to contend. Q. At the meetings, Lou's style was to stay out of the suite? What's your style? MIKE QUADE: Stay out of the suite or in the suite? I'm hiding from you guys. (Laughter.) I like to sit in the rooms and hear the banter back and forth and I'm smart enough to know that a lot of it is not going to come to fruition, but it's interesting to listen to how deals are put together or not or the different personalities involved with different organizations. You guys do this kind of stuff for a living and work on all of these different situations. So I'm around, I've got my ears open. Q. Now that you've heard some things, what would you say your level of confidence of getting something done here is before you leave? MIKE QUADE: I think that -- I'm not getting anything done, first of all. And I believe that those guys wake up every day with, we are going to get something done. I don't know what it is, and we'll wait and see. But I think they will find pieces to the puzzle and I think -- and I've watched Jim, he's a tireless worker and they are going to get something done I believe now. That's why they are here and that's why they are working so hard. Q. How much of how you all finished last year should elevate or color expectations for the club, is it a completely different situation? MIKE QUADE: I hope it did something for the confidence of the club as a group and a lot of individuals. The fact of the matter is we pitched the living day lights the last five or six weeks. We put some runs on the board but the pitching was incredible. That was important and a lot of the young kids in the bullpen were able to bridge the gap, and Cash was one of those kids. I would like to think from that standpoint -- but my nature is to never be satisfied and operate like, we will take that confidence and I think a whole bunch of guys realized, they can do this. But now we have to build on that. We will not rest on our laurels. We have got to get better. Q. Do you expect to win the division? MIKE QUADE: I expect to win every game every day, and make an adjustment afterwards. That's the God's honest true. I'm fairly certain we are not going to go 162-0 but I really do. I don't know how else to approach a season or a ballclub without thinking, you know, let's find a way to get that done. And then react as you go along and see what happens. Q. When Spring Training gets here, will you change your style at all from what it was, or the team, will you want to run more or anything? MIKE QUADE: Part of that, and I think I'm too old to change my style. Everybody says, oh, you're a young manager, and I'm going, wait, is that nice. If you reflect on things that you've learned over the years and you've been managing the game yourself or working with great people, the one thing that all of those years of Minor League managing did is it forces you to be flexible and keep an open mind and to learn what different things you can learn with different clubs and so forth and so forth. So I think the measure of any good manager is getting to Spring Training and getting the best 25 and realizing there are a whole bunch of guys that are going to come help you and get the most out of it. That's the essence of the darned thing is, how can I get the most out of these guys, and if it's running, great. If it's being patient and letting somebody drive in a run from first; so that's the deal. It's always important for me, you wants to be aggressive and do all this stuff, well, of course you do, but percentages matter and you want to make sure guys are put in a good situation to execute when they can. I don't think Soto will be stealing any bases. Q. Colvin is a good outfielder, can be a good first baseman? MIKE QUADE: I don't know if that's in the cards but I do know that being creative and keeping an open mind in all of these things is important. Who knows, fooling around with him last year out there may come in handy and we'll see how it shakes out. He's a good athlete and he's got good hands. Last year, we never played him in a game, he spent time around and looked comfortable doing it; but you feel like the fundamentals of catching and doing some things, would be good. Q. Your expectations with the fans? MIKE QUADE: My expectations are normally higher than the fans, now the reaction to those expectations might be a better question, how you deal with that. When I was coaching third, you get criticized, you send somebody, they get thrown out, bad decision, but nobody was ever more critical of Mike Quade than Mike Quade so I go in with high expectations. And realistically, make adjustments if necessary along the way. And that's, you know, I don't know how else -- having lived there and had the Chicago experience most of my life, I understand the angst. But I have to stay focused on getting the most out of many I club every day and that's a daily task in itself. Q. Do you feel like, there was a faction of fans that wanted Sandberg, that you have to prove yourself more because of that? MIKE QUADE: No. And I don't blame them and I get it. It's a heck of a deal when you have a guy that meant so much to that city. I think I said this to the local guys. I learned a lot about myself those last six weeks and that was as important as anything. The record was great and the kids did a super job and all the rest of it, but I needed to find out in my own mind, believed I could do it, but I learned a lot. And now I just need to keep proving to myself that this is an important situation and I'm going to do the best I can. You know, I have a hunch that you do a good job and the people of Chicago, they have always been great fans and great people and they appreciate hard work and a good job and that's what we are going to give them. Q. What are some of the things that you did learn that you were pleasantly pleased to find? MIKE QUADE: Whether it's discipline or whether it's communication, when you do things on a Minor League basis, and the years coaching in the big leagues are huge, as well. I talked a lot about the Minor League experience, but the years coaching, because the communication and the stuff that you have to deal with with players making a ton of money, and many with huge egos, that's probably the challenge. The game's the game and you match wits with Tony La Russa and that's a challenge and that's fun, okay. But the daily communication and the stuff that you go through on a regular basis at Triple-A or AA, is not dealing with Demp and Z, and that was the thing I needed to find out; if my approach, and the way I go about my business, is something that they would accept and that they would respect. And not everybody's the same. But that I learned as much as anything and that's the kind of stuff you keep building on. I haven't got it all figured out. The day I say good-bye I haven't got it all figured out. The four guys up there, Cito said it, you learn something every day. It doesn't change. Q. What's your take on Smith? MIKE QUADE: I have to be totally honest, I am not near as familiar with him as a lot of the kids that came to us. I read reports, we have got good evaluators and people that are excited about him, and anxious to see him, but would have to be totally honest, don't have a wonderful familiarity with somebody that I didn't see day-in and day-out. That's part of, these guys were asking about being involved with what's going on right now with Jim and his scouting group. I can read records and watch a game and see guys play, but when you see guys day-in and day-out, those are the people I want to listen to. For all of the discipline and communication that I like to talk about, you'd better listen. So I'm much more in tune to listening and having our development people say, hey, this is what he can and can't do and so on and so forth. Another good, young player from what I understand. Q. You made the decision to sit Castro for a couple of games, do you look back at that as a turning point where you made kind of a big deal -- MIKE QUADE: I felt like a much bigger deal was made about it than should have been, but that's okay. I thought it was -- it had nothing to do with Mike Quade. I thought it was the right thing to do for Starlang Castro and for the organization and the ballclub. I believed it would benefit him and I just thought it was a good time to try to get his attention and that's all. And you move on. You know, it's the kind of stuff that you do on a regular basis and you never hear about. But when you have to make some of those decisions that are not greatest thing -- but if it becomes a repeat situation, then maybe it becomes a big deal. Q. Was he at the winter ball team you managed ten years ago? MIKE QUADE: No, I was in Santiago. Q. Do you expect a competition at second base? MIKE QUADE: I expect competition everywhere. Look, we know the kid at short; you get this, but I like to see guys compete every day, and understanding your role or circumstance at some point is one thing, but showing up and not competing for a job, there are two things to me that you are going to have to separate and we'll see how it shakes out. But I think -- you want 25 guys that want to play every day. Q. But that position is open for the competition? MIKE QUADE: I would say yes. I would say yes. End of FastScripts |
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