Cubs Enter Homestretch of Race to the Top (of the 2011 Draft)

Mike Quade begins his major league managerial career tonight in Washington as he takes over the reins from Lou Piniella.  While some may have forgotten that Quade actually was considered a managerial candidate the last time around, our friend at @CubsInsider reminds us:

#Cubs manager Mike Quade has 2,378 games of experience as a manager at the minor league level, compiling a career 1,213-1,165 mark (.510).

That included almost four years with the AAA Iowa Cubs from 2003 to 2006.  He came up to the major league roster briefly to replace Chris Speier as the third base coach after Speier got caught driving home after a night of drinking off the pain of the 2006 Cubs.

So it is Quade's team now and there isn't much left to play for and we hope he doesn't follow Speier's example, but since Aisle 424 is a happy place where we always look on the bright side...



...we have decided to put a positive spin on the last six weeks or so.

We'll be tracking the race for the top pick in the 2011 draft here at Aisle 424.  We know that looking at the Cubs on the bottom of the standings gets depressing, so we have modified the standings a bit:

As you can see, the losses are the positive part of these standings, so we have reversed the loss column and the win column to put a more positive spin on it.  Also, instead of recording the win percentage, which is quite depressing, we get the higher numbers of a loss percentage.

This is shaping up to be quite a race!  The Cubs are within two games of the #3 pick and can easily move up at least that high.  After that, they have some work to do to catch Baltimore, but Buck Showalter seems unable to keep his team focused on the prize since the Orioles keep not losing games with increasing regularity.

Also, the Cubs really have the Pirates number this year and have pulled many defeats out of the jaws of victory against Pittsburgh this year.  The Cubs have six more games against Pittsburgh, so if they can continue to lose like we know they are capable, there will be a sizable dent put in the Pirates 9.5 game lead on the Cubs.

This series against Washington is crucial as the Cubs are only 2.5 games ahead of the Nationals.  A Cubs sweep would really damage their chances in the race, so I like some of the Cubs moves heading into the series.  First, Micah Hoffpauir is back on the roster.  That in and of itself has to be worth a couple more losses.  Then, they sent Wellington Castillo back to AAA to play with a good team so that Koyie Hill can continue to look at third strikes for the Cubs.

Things are looking up!

Hopefully, Quade can keep his team focused on what is important.