Mike Quade to coach third base?
New Cubs manager Lou Piniella continues to fill out his coaching staff, with an announcement expected possibly by today that Class AAA Iowa manager Mike Quade will replace Chris Speier as the team’s third-base coach.Speculation had centered on the possibility that Speier would return to the Cubs, just as pitching coach Larry Rothschild survived the purge of manager Dusty Baker’s staff. But sources confirmed on Tuesday that Speier will not return.
Speier has interviewed with the Arizona Diamondbacks about their third-base coaching vacancy. He served as the Diamondbacks’ third-base coach on then-manager Bob Brenly’s staff in 2001, when they won the World Series.
Quade, 49, joined the Iowa Cubs in 2003 after serving as a coach with the Oakland Athletics for three seasons. He filled in for Speier for three games on the Cubs’ staff in July, when Speier took a leave after being arrested on a DUI charge. Quade is a 1975 graduate of Prospect High School.
