Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs fired manager Mike Quade.

The move wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering the Cubs had just brought in Theo Epstein to be the new general manager. New GMs often want to clear house and start fresh, but since Epstein hadn’t done that when he started his job with the Boston Red Sox, I wondered if he’d hang on to the existing manager for one season. I guess not.

Quade managed the Cubs for just one full season–2011–and part of 2010. His overall record was 95-104. The Cubs finished 5th both years he was manager.

With him removed, the Cubs, just like the St. Louis Cardinals, will be conducting a managerial search. All Cubs fans’ thoughts immediately turned to Ryne Sandberg. But Epstein squashed that idea quickly.

The managerial search process begins immediately. We are looking for someone with whom and around whom we can build a foundation for sustained success. The next manager must have leadership and communication skills; he must place an emphasis on preparation and accountability; he must establish high standards and a winning culture; he must have integrity and an open mind; and he must have managerial or coaching experience at the major league level.

Yeah, that “major league level” experience bit? That rules out Sandberg. But one person it doesn’t leave out is former interim Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Mackanin. Mackanin will be interviewing with Chicago on Friday.

And if he gets the job, given how the Reds lied to him before sneakily hiring Dusty Baker, there might be some karmic payback coming. I wish Mackanin the best. I think he’s an interesting guy and wouldn’t have minded seeing more of him with the Reds.

Now that the World Series is over, Major League Baseball will start announcing its regular season awards. Last night, the Gold Gloves were announced.

And the Cincinnati Reds had two recipients: Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips.

Phillips has won the award for his defense at second base three of the last four years.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” Phillips said. “The manager and the coaches respect my work.”

Phillips realizes the importance of defense.

“Defense wins games,” Phillips said. “I go out and catch the ball the best way I know how. . . The baseball field is my coliseum. I go out and entertain the fans.”

The award was Votto’s first, and was the first ever for a Reds first baseman.

“I’d like to thank the managers and coaches who selected me,” Votto said. “It always means a tremendous amount to be selected by your superiors for any award, especially for one of this magnitude. I’d also like to thank the Reds’ coaching staff for their help, with a special mention to bench coach Chris Speier.”

Both Votto and Phillips had clauses in their contracts that award them bonuses for the awards. Phillips will be $250,000 richer, while Votto gets $50,000.

Last year, the Reds had three Gold Glove winners: Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen, and Bronson Arroyo. It could’ve been three again this year, but Jay Bruce was robbed by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andre Ethier. I guess there’s always next year.

The biggest baseball news of the day is that Tony La Russa announced his retirement as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was announced in a press conference on Monday morning.

“I think this just feels like it’s time to end it,” the 67-year-old La Russa said at a news conference at Busch Stadium.

Unlike the World Series celebration, tickets were not sold for the event.

La Russa leaves the game at third on the all-time managerial wins list, with 2,728. He’s 35 behind John McGraw, but never considered returning for one more season simply to surpass him.

“I’m aware of the history of the game, but I would not be happy with myself if the reason I came back was to move up one spot,” La Russa said.

Over his career, La Russa won three World Series titles: Oakland in 1989, St. Louis in 2006, and St. Louis again in 2011.

I have mixed feelings about his leaving. He’s a guy that’s fun to hate on, given his love of being a part of the game. Of course, he will be hard for the Cardinals to replace. For all of La Russa’s faults, he delivered. And his leaving will make the Cardinals a weaker team, which as a Reds fan, has both positives and negatives.

Still, it has been fun while it lasted. Without La Russa, I doubt this Cardinals-Reds rivalry would be where it is. I can only hope the next manager will keep things going.

Former Cincinnati Reds majority owner and CEO Carl Lindner died Monday night at the age of 92.

Lindner took over the team in 1999 after Marge Schott was forced out. Perhaps his greatest influence on the team was to bring a sense of stability to the owner’s spot.

Lindner held his majority stake through 2006, overseeing the building and opening of Great American Ball Park and the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. He sold most of his shares in the team to Bob Castellini’s group in January 2006.

The rumor flying around the Cincinnati Reds’ part of the internet pertained to one first baseman Joey Votto.

Rival executives getting signals that the Reds won’t shop Joey Votto — but that they are fully prepared to listen to offers.

That was a tweet from Buster Olney from a few days ago. Granted, it’s a grown man going by the name of “Buster,” but he has both hands and presumably no mommy issues. Plus he writes for ESPN the Magazine.

Today, Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty responded to the issue.

“I’m tired of talking about it,” he said. “We’re not shopping him. We’re not entertaining offers. It’s frustrating. He’s one of the best players in the game. Why would we trade him? I wish people would stop writing about it.”

It would take one hell of an offer to trade Joey Votto. Clubs draft and develop and draft and develop and draft and develop and still never find a player with the talent of Votto. Once you get one, it makes no sense to immediately trade it away. That preparing for the future thing? That has to be now for the Reds.

And I would suggest that if Jocketty wants people to stop talking about Votto, maybe he should finally get around to improving the team. Votto’s only under contract for two more years.