Mark Loretta recently finished his first season as the Cubs’ bench coach, but with a new manager at the helm, it could end up as his last. Loretta is under consideration to retain the bench coach position, but they’re interviewing other candidates for the job, per Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic (subscription link). Former Padres manager Andy Green is among those “on the team’s radar,” Mooney and Sharma write.
Loretta’s a former major league infielder who spent significant time in the Padres’ front office after his playing career ended in 2009. He jumped ship for the Cubs last offseason to join Joe Maddon’s staff, but the Cubs parted with the latter after a campaign that fell shy of expectations. Although Loretta was among those who interviewed with the Cubs to replace Maddon, they instead wound up hiring one of their former players, David Ross. Loretta also interviewed for the managerial opening in San Diego, where he’d have replaced Green had he landed the job. However, the Padres chose Jayce Tingler over Loretta and other candidates.
The bench coach hire figures to be especially important for Ross, as he’s a first-time skipper who possesses no coaching experience in MLB. Green has totaled almost four years as a big league manager, having led the rebuilding Padres until they sent him to an early exit this past September. Before joining the Padres, Green managed in the minors and spent a year as a third base coach with the Diamondbacks.
Them Cubbies sure seem to love Ex-Padre affiliates.
Hoyer and McLeod were in charge of the Padres for several years, thus the connection. Loretta also has ties to them and Theo from the Boston days
Andy Green wasn’t as bad as a manager as his record indicated.. he came in knowing full well most of it would be during rebuilding years. Even though he was fired he still made many decisions that obviously came from Preller.. such as playing younger guys in the 2nd half to see what they had.
Glad they’re looking for somebody with more experience than Loretta to back up Ross, but I’m not sure Andy Green is really who I would be looking at.
The importance attached to the position of bench coaches is a telling commentary on the decision to hire field managers with no experience.
What do you know about Andy Green to make you say that other than he wasn’t able to win with a horrible roster?
There is nothing wrong with Andy Green, all Padre fans know is to blame manager for weak rosters.
Not quite. I blame Preller. But Green was weak as a leader. He was more Preller’s Puppet than manager.
True to an extent… and some of the players didn’t exactly love Green. Besides all this, he is a solid and smart baseball guy. Green would be a good hire as a big league bench coach.
Cubs should forget about another ex-Padres for their bench coach and stay within their organization. How about Marty Pevey, who has managed the Iowa Cubs, their AAA affiliate for some time>
How much does the bench coach make?