Down One Carlos (Silva)

But not to worry, because the Cubs still have three remaining.  Carlos Silva, owner of an ugly 10.90 ERA this spring, was cut off the 25 man roster by the Cubs late last week, which prompted him to blame the Cubs.  He directed his attack at pitching coach Mark Riggins.  "He was like, 'Man, you've been throwing the ball good, you can pitch, all of that, blah, blah, blah. If you go out there to Triple-A and throw some games to continue building, to continue getting better ... ' I was like, 'I don't need to go there. I'm ready to go. I feel good, and I'm ready to pitch," said Silva after hearing the news of his demotion.  Silva pitched absolutely awful in Spring Training, but he still thought he was good enough to pitch for the Cubs and he came into Spring Training thinking that he had already locked down a rotation spot.  Now he says he thinks the Cubs had planned it all along, and that Riggins wasn't telling him the truth.  "They already had their rotation done. It was very clear."

The Cubs fired right back, as they should.  But I was shocked to hear Mike Quade's aggressive response.  Why, you ask, considering that such responses are typical of many hardcore baseball managers.  Well here's why.  Lou Piniella didn't drop a single f-bomb during his time as Cubs manager.  There were the occasional angry rants, but these were more defensive old man ramblings than examples of baseball character like he used to show in the past.  Dusty Baker was not one for traditional skipper anger, either.  But Cubs fans probably got a taste of things to come when Quade unleashed on Silva through the media.  "First of all, he's dead f---ing wrong about my pitching coach. And I got no f---ing time for that,'' Quade said. "And second, respect is a two-way street, period. If you're not willing to give it, you're not getting it.  And the third thing that everybody needs to know, this was my call. If you want to be irritated with somebody, this is on me."  The Cubs made an attempt to trade the disgruntled Silva, but just ended up releasing him and will now have to eat much of that big salary. 


I say it all the time and will again in this post; the 2010 Cubs were simply a dead team.  There was no emotion from players with last names beginning with A-Y.  I love what I see with this because the players have extra motivation now.  Quade is a baseball lifer, and a respect guy.  Unlike Piniella, Quade won't just won't tolerate bad effort or negative comments.  Milton Bradley made many offensive statements during his only season with the Cubs and although none were directed at Cubs personnel like Silva's, Piniella just said the bare minimum in reaction.  It was as if he had a press secretary creating prewritten statements for him to just read off a sheet of paper.  Piniella was supposed to bring fire when he came to the Cubs in 2007, but by then he had already lost it all.  But this year's team has more young talent than any of the four Piniella teams, and you can bet that those young guys' ears perked up at this.  It's a battle everyday for playing time; Quade just raised the stakes.  


I feel like this relates to Jimmy Rollins' benching in 2008 as the reigning MVP after not hustling on a fly ball the day before.  Rollins said at the time about manager Charlie Manuel, "He has two rules -- be on time and hustle; and I broke one of them today."  Accepting the punishment, he also said, "It's my fault.  That's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up."  In this case, Silva broke a big law when he 'assaulted' an 'officer' in Riggins and then got furious when the police showed up.  As far as a manager comparison goes, Quade is now down in the records as a respect guy.  Play the game hard, and you'll gain his respect.