The Cubs announced last night that pitching coach Jim Hickey will be departing the organization. Per the team, he advised the club that he was moving on due to “personal reasons.”
Whether or not the underlying reasons are known to the team, they haven’t been disclosed publicly. It’s also unclear what’s next for Hickey. Regardless, the move leaves the Chicago club in need of top staff members to handle both their hurlers and their hitters. (The Cubs previously dismissed Chili Davis as hitting coach.)
It’s the second-straight winter in which the Cubbies have gone hiring these important positions. While coaching staff turnover is hardly unusual, this level of churn is clearly suboptimal. And it comes as manager Joe Maddon enters a contract year. The organization already has made clear it won’t lock him up to a new deal before the start of the 2019 campaign.
Hickey brought high expectations with him to Chicago when he joined the club about 13 months back. He had worked with Maddon before with the Rays and had a strong reputation. While the Cubs’ staff finished with an exemplary 3.65 cumulative earned-run average, third-lowest in baseball, it graded out as a middle-of-the-pack unit by ERA estimators. Of course, those broad-based results do not necessarily reflect well or poorly on Hickey’s efforts, the merits of which are all but impossible to assess from the outside.
Wow the walls are crumbling… Masson next? lol
John Farrell
ey loves her some Farrell!!!
Farrell and other big names won’t be hired by the cubs. They will look internally or for younger voices that can more effectively communicate to the younger players on the cubs.
I wouldn’t say walls crumbling but cracks have been forming for quite awhile now.
Troll
white Sux Forever… Spelling lessons next?
The S u x should really be re-named the “Bridgeport Sister F u c kers.” Would be more fitting.
*Maddon
FYI, the article makes it sound like the Cubs still need to find a replacement for Chili Davis. They do not. The position was filled by Anthony Iapoce.
Just a sidekick assistant hitting coach.
No, he’s actually THE pitching coach.
He’s actually the hitting coach but the Cubs are still looking for his assistant.
Still not sold on Joe Maddon as manager at the beginning of spring training.
Not sold—at all—on Theo Epstein actually.
All of those WS trophies he’s won are sure damning. Success sucks.
All. You mean one? Blind squirrel when it comes to the cubs and the last 110 years. Certainly no dynasty.
3, but you’d have to know something about major league baseball outside of lame attempts at trolling the Cubs and getting your rocks off on pre WW2 Cardinals success.
More success since even 2000 than the cubs had the last century
Who’s asking you to buy?
Well this does not bode well for the Cubs with all of this coaching turnover. Seems like there is some serious friction somewhere, I wonder if it has to do with the way Theo is handling the Joe Maddon extension question.
How about Milwaukee then? Replacing entire staff minus Counsell. So are the cracks there too? I’ll wait….
“While coaching staff turnover is hardly unusual, this level of churn is clearly suboptimal.”
It may be a sign of troubles in Milwaukee, but it’s not happening consecutive years in a row like in Chicago. If they do it again next year, then I could see the comparison.
It’s also worth noting that he didn’t get fired, he chose to leave. The reasons obviously aren’t known yet, but this could easily be seen as a red flag
And it’s also worth noting, given past audible whispers, that it’s quite likely Hickey has a personal issue that involves something other than baseball. That’s an issue completely and wholly aside from the trouble you’re starting by suggesting this is some industry-wide mutiny in and around the Chicago Cubs. Move along.
The brewers have craters not cracks. Why wld they fire their entire staff. After going to game 7 of the nlcs. They know probably know the brewers got extremel lucky. That strategy wont work again. With 1 or 2innigs pitched then 7 or 8 innings from the bullpen.
Plumber’s crack’s abound around the globe. .Even Milwaukee..
They should fire Maddon and start from scratch ;-/
Yea, they’ve had such a horrible run under him…wtf
I don’t get this Madden hate. The guy is a winner same with Theo.
Seattle needs to pick this guy up ASAP. The work he did with Cole Hamels…
I would be willing to be Hamels success with the Cubs, aside from his own work, should be attributed to FO guys we’ve never even heard of.
Or leaving Texas was the remedy for Hamels’ second half success. Or pitching in the NL. Or leaving the AL. Or….
Head hurling helper Hickey hits highway heaving heaps of hesitance on head hiring heirarchy.
Ok.
That’s oballiterating.
Bad brainwork burns baseball buff’s balmy balladry bid.
Hopefully Hickey lands with the Braves. They need a pitching coach still.
Either him, Farrell or Price among others. In any event I do wish the Braves would finalize their choice soon.
I’m guessing personal reasons may be health issue within him or family? I hope not since his first year wasn’t bad enough to be terminated. Or maybe he disagreed with his pitchers batting 8 th in lineup, …. the silver genius gets out too far on his skis ALOT
Probably decided he didn’t want to work for major contributor to the Trump campaigns. I stopped watching the Cubs after I heard that.
They’re sure gonna miss you. wtf is up with people?
Bet you didn’t.
Bye, Felicia
If that was his reason ( of course it wasnt) then hes too much of a snowflake to handle coaching duties for a little league team, let alone MLB.
Says the guy named Angels Camp
Admit it angelscamp…you’re a White Sox fan because Obama is too.
Obama couldn’t carry Hillary’s jock strap.
I hate the political discussion here but feel the need to point out that Jim Hickey was also working for a life long democrat in Theo Epstein. Additionally, sister Laura is also part of the Cubs ownership group, also a democrat and the first openly gay owner in professional sports.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Laura Ricketts is a Republican. An openly gay conservative.
Fake news pal. Check out the Wickipedia link (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ricketts) and scroll down to the “Political involvement” chapter. Then get back to us with more fake news that you can actually document.
Cubs fans, be happy you won that one. It was a great accomplishment. You can thank Theo. Maddon is super overrated. They get bounced in early Oct in 19, and they’ll be done with a spotlight grabbing Manager. They’ll go for more substance. This amount of coaching turnover is never a good thing. Players like stability. Lucky their core are vets who can prepare w/o confusing dozens of coaching philosophies.
The Cubs stand a way better chance in 19-21 at winning it all way more than the Giants. What would you know about “Players like stability”?
Get back to all of us (including Bruce Bochy) when Joe Maddon wins 3 World Series titles in a span of 5 years.
I think Madden is decent…three straight trips to the NLCS and a WS title. Meanwhile, it’s been a full DECADE since the Yankees have seen an ALCS. But you want to press on Maddon for an early playoff exit during a season of 95 wins and way more injuries than average? Cubs fans have waited for this backlash for decades….PLEASE keep it coming. It’s delicious.
2017 the Yankees were defeated in the ALCS by the Astros. Cubs fan here…just wanted to correct your statement.
OK…change my statement to “win” a WS. I thought you Yankees lovers only counted championships not coming close?
“A full DECADE since the Yankees have seen an ALCS.” Ummm no they actually were there in 2017 so it’s been more like a full year since they have seen it
Where were you in 2017 bro?
How is Maddon “spotlight grabbing?” He’s so laid back and hands off…almost too much so. So there are a couple of theme road trips, puts the whole team in the spotlight though.
Same thing with all the winning, puts him and the whole team in the spotlight.
Exactly Cubbie75…Maddon plays it cool while all the media can’t wait to squeeze a sound-bite out of him. And, for those who didn’t notice, other teams have started using themed road trips to loosen things up now. First Maddon took jabs about that, now others realize there are benefits to goofing/having fun! Did you see other teams also doing the bullpen dancing? Maddon’s definitely innovative and other managers look up to him with respect even if Cub haters don’t.
It had nothing to do with the front office’s drafts, trades, and signings.
It’s all the fault of the manager and his coaches.
This is how Theo has always rolled.
He won a WS. Be happy. It’s now thrashing around time throwing gobs of money around. Lots of pub, soap opera, social media interest. That’s Entertainment!
For the love of god, call Eric Hinske. I have no idea why they ever let Mallee and Hinske walk.
Be nice to see Hickey in a Jays uniform next season. He is an outstanding pitching coach.
The Cubs issues last year had less to do with their pitching and more to do with their offense which struggled mightily in the second half. It was the pitching staff that carried the Cubs throughout most of 2018. The starters had some issues early on but where very good in the second half. Considering the problems with Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, Hickey should be commended. The bullpen was among the betters ones despite losing their closer Brandon Morrow and helped cover the early woes of the starters. The overuse of the pen, typical of their manager anyway, had the Cubs deploying their annual AAA shuffle and might have contributed to Morrow’s injury as well as the struggles of a usually reliable Carl Edwards Jr.
Hopefully Jim Hickey will work out his personal problems and return to the game as one of MLB’s best pitching coaches. Whatever issues he’s dealing with must be serious considering that he has worked for Joe Maddon for much of his career and is also a Chicago native.
This also marks the third consecutive season in which the Cubs will have a new pitching coach and hitting coach, a troubling situation for a winning team with excellent talent over the past 4 years. All this and the unusually high turnover rate with the coaching staff doesn’t bode well for a manager entering his walk season. Maddon has been the one constant over the past 4 seasons and another disappointing end to a season that doesn’t include a World Series appearance likely means a new manger on the North Side come 2020.
Joe Girardi
Buck Showalter is also looking for a gig and might be another nice replacement along with Girardi. Yet another former AL East manager that Theo has plenty of first hand experience with from his days in Boston.
Would love to see the Cubs get Rich Dotson from the White Sox. He deserves a shot somewhere, he’s going to be a great Pitching coach if not manager somewhere.
The White Sox prefer shuffling their minor league pitching coaches among the different levels each season. I believe that former MLB pitching coach Steve McCatty who was at AAA Charlotte last season has produced the best results in the system and might be first in line to replace Don Cooper or find another big league gig.
The Cubs 15 minutes of fame is up!
The Cards 15 minutes of fame was up years ago. Best fans in baseball…..man I love how quiet they are.
There’s more to this than we know. Hickey wouldn’t wait this long to just quit because of any Cub situation. This feels like it is genuinely personal. It would make no sense to quit after most teams have filled their staffs out, and also he is Maddons buddy. They’ve been together for 10 years! Theo & Jed even made reference to this situation several weeks ago…as if they were waiting to see what was happening with Hickey. I wish everyone would stop trying to turn any Cub news into something negative.
Well said!
Considering the Cubs’ record and playoff appearances with Maddon at the helm, he’s earned an extension, and eternal gratitude from Cubs fans. I’m sure teams like the Cardinals, Reds and Phillies will be in contact immediately after the Cubs fire him, though.
We both know that if Rick Renteria could duplicate Joe Maddon’s success on the South Side of Chicago he would have a job for life in the White Sox organization.
That being said, Maddon has not gotten the most out of his talented roster the last two seasons. Some of the Cubs woes could be attributed to the front office and the FA contracts extended to the likes of Jason Heyward, Brett Anderson, Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood. Perhaps some of the coaches could also be taken to task, especially Chili Davis as hitting coach last season. But Maddon has a direct hand the hiring of his staff and he basically fired most of the ones from the 2016 championship season following a disappointing 2017 after suggesting they would all be back. The players themselves also have to take some responsibility for their production but in my humble opinion as a huge baseball fan since the early 1960’s, including of both Chicago teams, Maddon has failed to put his players in the best possible position to win. There is far too much fluctuation in his batting orders and it is not just due to the fact of having excess talent on the roster. Maddon also is notorious for wearing out his bullpen and not trusting his starting pitchers enough. He is the ultimate micro-manager when more stability and defined roles should be in order.
I also feel that Renteria was unfairly dismissed after his one year with the Cubs in 2014, the last miserable year of their rebuild. I believe that he could have at least duplicated the success of Maddon and likely would have done a better job managing the Cubs roster in 2017 and 2018. Of course, we will never know any of this now but Renteria does have an opportunity to make his own legacy in Chicago and will be given every opportunity from a loyal owner and front office. I’m betting that he will have enormous success with the White Sox in the coming years and actually show Chicago fans that success doesn’t necessarily ride on a manager’s ego and over the top strategizing.
Agreed on the Sox and Maddon. Heck, Ozzie would still be there if he had an ounce of discretion.
I disagree with your opinions on Maddon failing to manage the roster effectively. The players forced his hand by not producing when called on. Everything else takes care of itself from there. When players aren’t producing, it’s the managers job to initiate change. You can only do so much as a manager, though.
Based on your comments, it seems Maddon is damned either way; either he’s doing to much or not enough.
For instance, relievers who don’t get outs shouldn’t be called on… it’s just that simple. Starters who give up multiple walks that lead to runs in multiple innings should be pulled. No brainer, right? Now if he doesn’t use said reliever or pull said starter after poor performance, he’s not doing his job as a manager. It’s a catch-22. Bottomline, the guy just wins. Ultimately, that’s how a manager should be judged.
For the record, Epstein and his GM deserve most of the blame for the Cubs’ failures the last two seasons. They have a ton of money committed to guys who aren’t contributing. They’ve also missed out on better FA options and trades that were no-brainer fits for the roster (Cole, Yelich, elite closer, etc.) as a result. How the Cubs managed to win so many games is a testament to Maddon and the environment he fosters wherever he goes.
Ozzie should still be in baseball period. Yes he said something stupid,so what let him apologize and give the guy a job. It’s ridiculous how baseball has blackballed him. He was a World Series championship manager and entertaining as hell. He deserves another chance
I could write a dissertation on all the mistakes Joe Maddon had made as Cubs manager, especially with the construction of his batting orders throughout his tenure. I will keep the discussion here to a few blatant examples.
1-Batting the pitcher 8th regularly in 3 of his 4 seasons. The only year he refrained was their 2016 championship season.
2-Hitting sluggers atop the batting order when they should be staples in the middle of a lineup. Kris Bryant hitting second is a waste and his woeful RBI numbers the last two seasons in that spot is the proof in the pudding. Kyle Schwarber leading off the first half of 2017 was a joke and did nothing to help his career since.
3-Misuse of Ben Zobrist. The Cubs signed him and Jason Heyward as FA’s during the 2015/2016 offseason. For reasons unknown to anybody with a baseball brain the genius in the dugout elected to have Heyward hit #2 to begin the 2016 season, a role he had little experience or success with as a Brave and Cardinal. This decision helped Heyward get off to a miserable offensive start with the Cubs, one he has still not fully recovered from. Meanwhile, Zobrist has all the ideal requirements anyone would want to find in the perfect #2 hitter. He had just come over from the Royals where he hit exclusively in the #2 spot after being acquired midseason and helped the Royals to a World Series title in 2015. What makes this even more mind boggling was the fact that Maddon had this guy in Tampa for nearly his entire career. When the Cubs were desperate for help atop their batting order the past two seasons after leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler departed what did Maddon do? He decided that Schwarber should lead off in 2017 and that Bryant would make the ideal #2 hitter. In 2017 he also had Zobrist hitting cleanup more often than not. WTF!
Ok, but everything you brought up was a reaction by Maddon to the roster he was given, and player performance on said roster. Heyward has been pathetic, regardless of where you hit him. Schwarber doesn’t belong on a NL roster. He and one of Happ or Amora should have been traded two offseasons ago. They could have easily assembled an outfield that includes Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich had they simply exercised better judgement. There’s your leadoff hitter, and additional MVP bat… both GG to boot. The Cubs could have signed or traded for a closer who does NOT have a history of injuries and fragility. They could have done A LOT of things to improve the roster, thus making it unnecessary for Maddon to tinker. Epstein didn’t do it because he’s too in love with the roster to make objective moves to get better.
Ozzie was given multiple chances. I don’t think he cared enough to change. He got himself run out of Miami for the same reason KW had to let him go.
He should have said “I meant STARLIN Castro”.
How can you comment that Maddon has failed to get the most from his players? You’re always striving for improvement, but he got the most wins in MLB out of this group over his 4 years as manager!
And when you say they were unfair to Renteria, well…that’s like saying they were unfair to Brian LaHair when they traded for Rizzo! When you can grab elite talent, you do it!
Winning on the North Side of Chicago under Theo Epstein means World Series titles and not regular season victories. Clearly Theo agrees with this or Maddon would have already extended him before his lame duck season. Frankly, the Cubs were fortunate to win their one championship the way Maddon managed during that postseason. If they had lost that seventh game in Cleveland the Cubs would have already made a change in the dugout by now.
As for Rick Renteria, he did everything that was asked of him during his lone 2014 season on the North Side. His forte was in player development and he did just that with emerging young talent like Kyle Hendricks, Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon and Jorge Soler. He helped get both Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro back on track after they regressed under previous skipper Dale Sveum. Renteria also oversaw the emergence of Jake Arrieta into a front line starter and got a great half season out of veterans Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel who were then pawned off to Oakland for SS Addison Russell.
The Cubs had an opportunity to secure Joe Maddon from the Rays when he opted out of his deal in Tampa the following offseason. Personally, I felt it was a classless act considering Renteria’s contribution to the organization. I also felt it was even more classless for Maddon to lobby for the job of another manager who was still under contract when he opted out of his deal with the Rays. As a White Sox fan as well as a Cub fan I had always considered Maddon overrated when he was in the AL, an ego-driven manager who somehow felt the need to be his team’s star instead of it’s players. He continued that in Chicago with a young team in 2015 and hasn’t stopped. Hopefully Theo will put an end to this charade sooner rather than later even though he was most responsible for Maddon’s hiring in the first place.
Mac, you couldn’t be more wrong about Maddon. He didn’t “lobby” for a position with the Cubs. Most likely, Epstein contacted Maddon or his agent. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this stuff. Makes no difference anyway, many owners and GMs want Maddon out of Chicago because he’s one of the best in baseball. I see him winning another championship with his next club (if he doesn’t retire) very shortly. Meanwhile, it’ll be the beginning of the end on the northside.
Fortunately it wont be on the South Side of Chicago anytime soon. That would be the worst kind of cruel for Rick Renteria. I also hope you were not implying that “the beginning of the end on the northside” will be a result of Maddon’s departure.
Don’t forget Maddon is 64 years old and has hinted in the past that the Cubs may be his last stop.
Then he can retire at the age of 65 and be in line for both Social Security and Medicare.
This sounds personal and just up and leaving like this I truly hope everything is well with him and his family…because it sounds like it could be bad
Probably the best comment of all so far and coming from a Cards fan no less. Cards81, you have my respect.
Joe Giardi …. next manager.
“I don’t want to be the scapegoat next year”
I believe jim Benedict will get that job .
Probably just sick of cub fans like the rest of the World.
They’re no worse than Red Sox, Yankees, Giants, Dodgers, Cardinals or Dodgers fans.
*Mets
@themed
Sure pal. That must be it. Hickey resigned because he is sick of Cubs fans. Ok. Cant fool you huh
hire farrell as pitching coach and hes the next manager for the cubs in 2020.
Maddon was a very good Manager when he was a nobody. But we see this happen time & time again, where they start to believe the press telling them how smart they are. After a while, guys like Maddon start to believe that they are geniuses, stop doing the work/research/preparation, thinking since they are such geniuses, they can wing it.
Joe Maddon’s fault with the Cubs is hardly due to a lack of preparation. If anything he spends too much time perusing advanced analytics before each game and overthinks his lineups. He ought to lose the stat sheet and pay more attention to what worked best for his players throughout their amateur and professional careers. He needs more defined roles that match skill sets. There is no need to have sluggers hitting atop a batting order when they have had been middle of the order hitters throughout most of their baseball lives. He has taken a team mostly comprised of young talent and is forcing roles upon them that they are not accustomed to and all doing this in the name of advanced analytics. Most of these players do not have enough MLB experience in which to draw meaningful results from. Why not just keep them where they had success in high school, college and in the minor leagues.
Maddon’s misuse of stats isn’t just relegated to his younger players either. He either ignores or poorly evaluates numbers that veterans have accumulated over longer periods of time. For instance, what prompted Maddon to insert Jason Heyward into the #2 role of the batting order when he first joined the Cubs in 2016? All the metrics available at that time pointed to Heyward being a better hitter further down in the lineup. To compound that mistake, one that Heyward has never fully recovered from offensively as a Cub, Maddon neglected the numbers of another FA newcomer that offseason, Ben Zobrist. Zobrist is the very definition of an ideal #2 hitter and had the stats to prove it, mostly with Maddon as a former Ray in Tampa. WTF!
Oh so Maddon had Heyward in the two hole for a month or two and Heyward never recovered? So Heyward has not produced for that reason? Just silly.
With Ben Zobrist signing as a free agent at the same time there was no need to gamble with Heyward hitting in a spot not suited to him. Heyward was already feeling the pressure of living up to a huge contract and with a new team. That poor decision certainly contributed to Heyward’s problems on the North Side, one he has yet to recover from.
“Genius” Joe made a similarly poor choice with Kyle Schwarber leading off to begin the 2017 season and his promising career as a prodigious slugger has stalled as well.
Anointing Kris Bryant as the Cubs primary #2 hitter in 2017 and 2018 was another Maddon blunder. He had Zobrist hitting cleanup for much of 2017 when their roles should have been reversed.
Pitchers hitting 8th more often than not? Why? Maddon didn’t invent this strategy but he’s the only manager in its long history who has ran with it as the norm regardless of a pitchers offensive acumen.
I’m also tired of his incessant lineup changes every day. I firmly believe that players produce better with known and accustomed roles. Baseball is a grind but Maddon doesn’t have the patience to stick with a standard batting order for even a week or two without changing it even with good production and health.
The Press tells Maddon how smart he is? All I see is the press being critical
Not the most important press, namely the beat writers who can’t afford to be too critical of the Cubs or their manager. The same applies for any such MLB journalist.
For the personal reason that the Cubs suck?
Hate us cause they ain’t us
Laura Ricketts is a Republican. An openly gay conservative.
Keep telling yourself that and maybe it will become a fact.