9/5 Development vs. winning

Cubs manager Mike Quade has 17 seasons and more than 2,300 games as a manager at the Minor League level. He likes the idea of emphasizing not only player development in the Minors but also winning.

“There’s always the fallback position that we’re here for development and development first,” Quade said Sunday. “I would argue, let’s go 51-49 on the percentages, 51 [percent] development, 49 [percent] winning, just because it’s very difficult to develop winning players day in and day out when you’re losing. I don’t know if that’s an oxymoron or whatever. You develop like a son of a gun but that development also involves teaching people how to win and hopefully winning. Does it happen every year? Does it happen at every level? No, but more is better.”

How hard is it to manage at Triple-A when rosters are changing constantly because of the big league team’s needs?

“Ryno’s finding out,” Quade said of Iowa manager Ryne Sandberg. “It is arguably the toughest level. I remember getting fired in Philadelphia after two years of Triple-A and going back to Grand Rapids and [Class A] ball with Oakland. The farm director said, ‘You’re going to find this the most refreshing thing’ and he was dead right and I had a blast. Triple-A is tough. If you’re a fan at Triple-A you can’t get too fond of people. You know you’re going to get the call on a Tuesday that a starter is going up to Chicago.”

– Carrie Muskat