Less than two weeks ago, the Chicago Cubs were eliminated in the NLCS, and already the coaching staff is getting revamped. Manager Joe Maddon is still the captain, but he is getting a new crew to work with for next season. The Cubs last week said goodbye to pitching coach Chris Bosio and have parted ways with hitting coach John Mallee, assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske, and third base coach Gary Jones.
President Theo Epstein said in the end-of-the-year presser that, "Every coach that he [Maddon] wants back, he'll have back." This tells us these decisions reflect Maddon's opinions and not Epstein's.
Announced Thursday morning (Oct. 26) was the hiring of new hitting coach Chili Davis, as well as third base coach Brian Butterfield and promoting Andy Haines to assistant hitting coach. There are still some big decisions to be made as to who will take over Bosio's old spot and the fate of assistant coach Dave Martinez, who interviewed in Washington for Dusty Baker's old job.
#Cubs name Chili Davis hitting coach, Brian Butterfield 3rd base coach, Andy Haines ass't hitting coach
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) October 26, 2017
Chili Davis
Davis is a very well respected coach in baseball. Before coaching he played 19 years in the major leagues and was a three-time All-Star, finishing his career with a .274/.360/.811 slash and 350 home runs.
Davis comes over from the Boston Red Sox where he was their hitting coach from 2015-2017 and before that he was the hitting coach with the Oakland Athletics.
The Cubs struggled with strikeouts in the postseason and had a team 22.3 percent strikeout rate in the 2017 regular season, which was in the highest-15 in baseball. Davis' Red Sox had sub-20 percent strikeout rates in each season he was the hitting coach.
The addition of Davis can hopefully help some of these young Cubs cut down on the strikeouts and continue to grow as hitters.
Former Cubs hitting coach John Mallee went to twitter to thank the Cubs organization for his time as hitting coach.
I would like to thank the Chicago Cubs for the amazing opportunity to be part of a great tradition and organization for the last 3 years. I left a great Houston Astros organization to be closer to home with my family and to help my hometown team win a World Series. We did that.
— John Mallee (@JohnMallee) October 26, 2017
Other new coaches
Andy Haines was promoted from being the hitting coordinator for the Cubs minor league system to assistant hitting coach with the MLB club.
According to Iowa sports writer Tommy Birch, Haines was very helpful to Kyle Schwarber when he was sent to the minors in 2017 to help his hitting approach. His familiarity with the Cubs system can help make Davis' job easier.
Brian Butterfield is also very a well-respected coach and has 21 years of MLB coaching experience. He spent the last few years in Boston after spending a decade with the Toronto Blue Jays.
In terms of a new pitching coach, nobody has been hired. However, there is speculation that former Rays coach Jim Hickey is most likely going to be the guy. Hickey was part of Maddon's staff in Tampa Bay and had an interview with the Cubs earlier this week. Mike Maddux was another rumored candidate but he has been hired by the Cardinals. Nothing is certain, but Hickey would seem very likely.
