I don't think Quade's doing a bad job with what he's been given. I don't like how he manages the bullpen all of the time, I think he's been slow to make lineup adjustments (Byrd hitting in the #3 hole for much of the season for example and not working his bench in the lineup more for struggling players), I don't like a lot of his "gut call" decisions like Baker pinch hitting against Putz or Reed Johnson pinch hitting in the 9th early in the season with Kosuke on the bench, and like Reb's mentioned a few times, he does seem to sit on his hands a lot.
However, I do like some things he's done that I don't think a lot of managers would do. I don't think there are a lot of veteran managers who would have gone with Barney at second base to start the season, and that's turned out to be a very good decision thus far. Putting Cashner in the rotation was looking like a good decision before he got hurt, and I think a lot of "old school" managers would have been content to pigeonhole Cashner as a reliever right away after not starting much last season. He doesn't do a lot of small ball stuff that a lot of managers do that cost their teams runs. Some of his "against the book" decisions are actually good ones, like not automatically going to a weak left handed bat off the bench when there is a right handed batter who's hitting better.
I think Quade seems like a solid baseball guy, but I still wonder if he might be a little over his head managing a major league team. It still doesn't seem all the time like the team is buying into him, and part of his sitting on his hands and being slow to make lineup changes might be due to him being a Triple-A guy who doesn't want to make waves on a team full of veterans.