The Chicago Cubs are in a bit of a predicament and former Red Sox manager John Farrell could be just the one to get them out of it. The Cubs announced on Tuesday they had lost pitching coach Jim Hickey. Hickey, who had only been with the club for one season stepped down for, what was has been called, "personal reasons." There hasn't been any kind of explanation as to what those reasons might be. That means that the team has lost three coaches since the end of the season. One of those, Chili Davis's departure was 100 percent intentional as he was fired.

Losing Brandon Hyde was absolutely not intentional and could sting. It's not clear whether Jim Hickey really left on his own or was pushed out. It's rather clear that trying to find a pitching coach, when you are also not willing to give your manager more than what is essentially a one-year deal isn't easy.

John Farrell might make that search just a little bit easier. Bleacher Nation reports that Farrell could be a fit for the Chicago Cubs for a variety of reasons. The most obvious reason appears to be that he wants to get back on a path to being a manager. That's going to be easier to do when working with a pitching staff like the Cubs.

John Farrell is familiar to the front office

If you are looking for reasons to draw the line from "Cubs coaching staff opening" to "John Farrell" you don't have to look any further than Theo Epstein.

Epstein was gone by the time he took over as manager of the Redsox. The Cubs president was in charge of Boston when he brought Farrell on board as the Sox pitching coach. Not long after getting that job, he left to be the manager of the Toronto Bluejays but it's pretty clear Theo and Jed Hoyer thought enough of the man back in the day to give him a job.

Now that they are in a pinch, it's not hard to expect them to look in his general direction.

While this is trivia more than anything else, there are other connections to the Cubs.

John's son Luke Farrell pitched for the team last year. He was one of the many minor leaguers who yo-yoed back and forth as the franchise tried to plug holes in the pitching staff. Two other sons, Shane and Jeremy work in the organization as well. The other interesting thing to note is that Farrell doesn't have ties to Joe Maddon. That could be a plus should the team decide to depart from their manager after next season.

Farrell could use the Chicago Cubs as a stepping stone

Knowing the connections between the club and the former manager and pitching coach, the question becomes whether he wants to come to Chicago.

For the last few years, he's worked as a scout for the Reds. That means he knows the NL Central. It should also be pointed out that he would be arriving in a position that might have a built-in promotion. The Chicago Cubs are clearly not enamored with Joe Maddon or they would have extended him. It's possible John Farrell could serve one year as the pitching coach and 2020 as the manager.
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