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Cubs To Hire Greg Brown As Hitting Coach

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The Cubs are planning to hire Greg Brown as their next hitting coach, report Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic. Brown has spent the past two seasons as the Rays’ minor league hitting coordinator.

This will be Brown’s first job on a big league coaching staff. The 41-year-old spent a few seasons in minor league and independent ball in the early-mid 2000’s before transitioning into his post-playing career. Brown spent two seasons scouting with the Astros before taking over as head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern University. He held that role for nine years, with his club winning the D-II national championship in 2016, before departing to join the Rays.

Brown replaces Anthony Iapoce, who was let go after four seasons as Cubs’ hitting coach last month. He’ll be tasked with overseeing a Chicago offense that’s in transition, much like the roster in general. Having shipped out much of the core of their 2016 World Series winner over the past year, the Cubs leaned heavily on minor league veterans down the stretch. The front office will presumably bolster the lineup externally somewhat this winter (although catcher Willson Contreras might be a trade candidate), but it seems likely they’ll also take another look at players like Frank Schwindel and Patrick Wisdom to see if they can find a potential late-blooming regular or two.

Cubs Hire Ehsan Bokhari As Assistant General Manager

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The Cubs’ reshaping of the front office continued Monday, as they announced the hiring of Ehsan Bokhari as an assistant general manager. Bokhari, 38, has spent the past four seasons in the Astros’ front office — first as their director of R&D in 2018 and, more recently, as their senior director of player evaluation from 2019-21.

With the Astros, Bokhari contributed to player evaluation at the amateur, professional and international levels in addition to overseeing the entirety of the team’s research and development projects. He was one of the original members of the Dodgers’ research and development staff, serving as a senior analyst with Los Angeles from 2015-18. Bokhari holds a PhD in quantitative psychology and an MS in Statistics from the University of Illinois, in addition to undergraduate degrees in psychology and mathematics from the University of Arizona.

Bokhari will replace longtime Cubs executive Randy Bush as assistant general manager, as the 63-year-old Bush transitions into a consultant/advisory role with the Cubs, per Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). The Cubs’ front office has seen a good bit of turnover throughout the past calendar year, beginning with Theo Epstein’s decision to step down as president of baseball operations. Longtime GM Jed Hoyer was elevated to that vacant title, and earlier this month Hoyer announced the hiring of Cleveland assistant GM Carter Hawkins as the team’s new general manager.

Coaching Notes: McLeod, Dozier, Hillman, Rodriguez

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Cubs senior vice president of player personnel Jason McLeod is departing the organization, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Mooney says that McLeod, whose contract is up at the end of the month, “declined an offer to remain with the Cubs.” McLeod may not be a household name, but he’s been an instrumental part of baseball’s recent history. Theo Epstein was hired to be the Cubs’ president of baseball operations in October 2011, with McLeod and Jed Hoyer coming along two weeks later. The trio, who had all previously worked together in Boston, helped build the recent Cubs dynasty that broke the century-old curse with their 2016 World Series championship. The triumvirate was broken up with Epstein’s resignation a year ago. Hoyer was then promoted from general manager to take Epstein’s place as president. Although Hoyer delayed naming a replacement GM because of the pandemic, it was recently announced that it would be Carter Hawkins, who had previously been with Cleveland. In past years, McLeod has been frequently connected to other general manager positions in rumors but had stayed in his senior VP role with the Cubs until now.

Other coaching notes from around the league…

  • It was less than a year ago that Brian Dozier announced his retirement from playing, and now he wants to get right back into a dugout as a manager. In a conversation with Robert Murray of FanSided, Dozier discusses his ambitions and says, “Even though I don’t want to play anymore, I feel as if I have a lot more to give in the sense of managing. For me, I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being a leader on and off the field and learning from managers that I’ve had on things to do and not to do. I’ve always had a desire to manage.” Dozier goes on to discuss various topics related to managing, such as analytics and communication. He says that he has not yet talked to any teams about managing but wanted to put his intentions out in the open. Dozier is 34 years old, turning 35 in May, and would easily be the youngest manager in the league, if hired. (Rocco Baldelli and Luis Rojas were the youngest this year at 39.) However, there’s at least some recent precedent for a manager getting hired in his mid-30s. Baldelli was 37 when he was first hired. Kevin Cash was hired just before his 37th birthday. A.J. Hinch and Eric Wedge were both approaching their respective 35th birthdays when their hirings were first announced, Hinch with Arizona in 2009 and Wedge with Cleveland in 2002.
  • The Marlins are losing a couple members of their coaching staff, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Third base coach Trey Hillman and assistant hitting coach Robert Rodriguez are both leaving to pursue other opportunities. This concludes a three-year term in the organization for Hillman, who was hired before the 2019 campaign. He has some managerial experience, having been the bench boss for the Royals, as well as the NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the SK Wyverns of the KBO. Rodriguez previously managed the Gulf Coast League Marlins and was promoted to the big league club prior to the 2020 season.

Cubs Assistant GM Randy Bush Moves To Advisor Role

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Longtime Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush is leaving his position to become a senior advisor for the team’s baseball operations department, The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney reports.  Bush has been Chicago’s assistant GM since December 2006, and briefly served as the interim GM in between Jim Hendry’s firing in August 2011 and Theo Epstein’s hiring in the 2011-12 offseason.

Bush stayed with the team throughout Epstein’s tenure, and though Jed Hoyer’s first season as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations.  The role change has been in the works since August, when Bush let Hoyer know he wasn’t planning to return as assistant GM, so this advisory position will allow Bush to spend more time with his family while working mostly remotely from his Jacksonville home.

“It’s just been an awesome chapter in my baseball career.  Working with great people here, and the things we’ve accomplished, it’s just been a ball,” Bush said.  “With all that being said, I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my career and my life.  I honestly feel like the luckiest guy in the world with all the blessings that I’ve had in my whole baseball life.  It’s been unbelievable.”

Minnesota fans will remember Bush from his 12 seasons with the Twins from 1982-1993, as Bush saw regular duty as an outfielder and first baseman over 1219 career MLB games and was a member of the Twins’ two World Series championship teams.  He also worked as the head baseball coach at the University of New Orleans from 2000-05 before joining the Cubs organization as a special assistant and advance scout.

Cubs Designate Erick Castillo, Tyler Payne For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated catchers Erick Castillo and Tyler Payne for assignment, as relayed by Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (Twitter link). Additionally, Johneshwy Fargas, Tyler Ladendorf and Joe Biagini — each of whom were selected to the majors as COVID-19 replacements — have been removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Triple-A Iowa.

Castillo and Payne are both longtime organizational veterans who got late-season cameos with Willson Contreras dealing with a hip issue. Both 28-year-olds got their first big league calls in the last week of the regular season, with Castillo picking up a couple of hits. Neither player was regarded as a high-level prospect and neither has a strong offensive track record in the minors. It’s not surprising they were removed from the roster rather quickly, then, although both did at least get into an MLB game.

Both Castillo and Payne will go on waivers in the coming days. Should they pass through unclaimed, they’d each have the right to elect minor league free agency as players with seven-plus seasons of minor league experience. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either player re-sign with the Cubs on a minors pact for 2022, as they’ve each only played in the Chicago organization throughout their pro careers.

Fargas, Ladendorf and Biagini are all soon to become minor league free agents themselves. That trio was brought up at the end of the year while the Cubs dealt with coronavirus spread in the clubhouse. Players selected as COVID replacements needn’t be passed through waivers to be removed from the 40-man, although they’ll all have the requisite minor league service time to test the open market this winter anyhow.

Ricketts: Cubs Will Be “Active” In Free Agency

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Three full offseasons have elapsed since the Cubs signed Yu Darvish to a six-year contract, and the only multi-year arrangement they’ve signed with a free agent in the offseasons since was a two-year, $5MM deal to utilityman Daniel Descalso. Even including the in-season three-year contract Craig Kimbrel signed in 2019, the Cubs’ total free-agent expenditures over the past three years comes to just under $82MM — about 65 percent of the total figure they gave to Darvish alone. Suffice it to say, they haven’t been especially active — at least not by the standards of a former $200MM-payroll club that plays in one of the game’s largest markets.

Team chairman Tom Ricketts has attributed the downturn in spending to myriad factors. As far back as 2019, he claimed that the Cubs “didn’t have any more” resources to commit to payroll, and in the years since he’s referenced the “dead-weight loss” associated with paying the luxury tax and “biblical” losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2021 season, of course, saw the Cubs blow up the core of their World Series-winning 2016 team. They traded Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez (as well as several other veterans) prior to the deadline. Now, with a much cleaner payroll slate, Ricketts has publicly indicated for the first time in several years that the club plans to spend to some extent this winter.

“We have the resources necessary to compete in 2022 and beyond, and we will use them,” Ricketts wrote in a letter to season ticketholders Friday. “We will be active in free agency and continue to make thoughtful decisions to bolster our roster.” He goes on to stress that the organization “respects” the “high expectations” of fans and shares their desire to win. “We commit to fielding a competitive team reflective of your unrivaled support,” Ricketts added.

Cubs fans will surely be relieved to see any ownership mention of spending after a few seasons marked by payroll cuts. That said, Ricketts’ use of “thoughtful” might not set the stage for major expenditures — particularly when taken in conjunction with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer’s recent comments about being “opportunistic.” Hoyer noted that the type of flashy, aggressive moves made when teams strive to “win the offseason” can quickly become detrimental once the initial excitement fades.

Having gone out of his way to promise that the club will be active in free agency, Ricketts will surely push the front office to spend to some degree. The more meaningful question will come down to what constitutes an “active” offseason, particularly after Hoyer’s more measured comments last week. Gordon Wittenmyer’s recent interview with Carlos Correa over at NBC Sports Chicago will no doubt have Cubs fans dreaming of a mega-deal for a new franchise shortstop, but it’s hard to imagine the team going in such an aggressive direction not even a year into this retooling/rebuilding process.

Hoyer has been clear that this won’t be a full teardown to the extent of the Cubs’ prior rebuild, but Chicago is lacking depth all over the diamond. Pouring so many resources into one position at a time when there’s a dire need for starting pitching, outfield help and long-term options elsewhere in the infield would register as a surprise. The Cubs probably do have that type of financial wherewithal — we’ve seen as much in the past — but Hoyer’s comments portend a series of smaller-scale signings aimed at addressing many areas of need up and down the roster.

Cubs Name Carter Hawkins General Manager

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Eleven months after Jed Hoyer was promoted from general manager to Cubs president of baseball operations in the wake of Theo Epstein’s decision to step down, the team has settled on a new general manager. The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve hired Indians assistant general manager Carter Hawkins as the 16th general manager in franchise history. Hoyer will still lead the team’s baseball operations department, but Hawkins will work closely alongside him and serve as the No. 2 executive in the team’s baseball operations hierarchy.

“I am thrilled to bring Carter into our organization,” Hoyer said in today’s press release. “He has earned a fantastic reputation as a leader through hard work, open-mindedness, humility and intelligence. I enjoyed getting to know him throughout the interview process, and it quickly became clear that we share the same passion for team building. I look forward to partnering with him to build the next great Cubs team.”

Though Hawkins is only 37 years old, he already has 14 years of experience working in Cleveland’s front office, working his way up the ranks from an internship to being the team’s player development director in 2014, and then a promotion to assistant GM in 2016.  He’ll now join a Cubs organization that has made no secret of its desire to upgrade its farm system and player development operations.

To that end, it perhaps isn’t surprising that both Hawkins and Indians VP of player development James Harris were each on Chicago’s reported short list of GM candidates.  Rays VP of player development/international scouting Carlos Rodriguez and Twins assistant general manager Jeremy Zoll were the other names known to be on the Cubs’ radar.  Hoyer said last winter that the team would wait to fill the GM role, since the circumstances of the pandemic made a proper interview process more difficult at the time.

Hawkins will now step in as Hoyer’s chief lieutenant as the Cubs begin what could be a fascinating offseason.  After a fire sale of veterans at the trade deadline, Chicago now has a younger and less expensive roster, though it isn’t yet known if the Cubs plan to use this available future payroll space to make an immediate splash for 2022.  Hoyer has stated that the team intends to “spend money intelligently” this winter, but the Cubs will also be “really active in free agency.”

Measured offseason spending is nothing new for Hawkins, as the Indians have a longstanding model of building through trades and homegrown prospects rather than major free agent signings.  Of course, the Cubs have a much larger revenue base than Cleveland, and a drastic cut in spending doesn’t (or shouldn’t) seem feasible considering that the Cubs have been regularly approached or surpassed the $200MM payroll mark in recent years.  This isn’t to say that the Cubs will immediately zoom back up to the $200MM threshold this offseason, but the plan seems to be for Hoyer, Hawkins and company to remodel the team’s minor league pipeline to the point that Chicago will have a steady run of young talent ready to augment whatever higher-priced veterans are on hand.

Britt Ghiroli, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first broke the news that the Cubs planned to hire Hawkins and were finalizing a contract.

Padres Looked Into Anthony Rizzo Trade At Deadline

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The Padres’ trade deadline explorations included some talks with the Cubs about first baseman Anthony Rizzo, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes as part of a reader mailbag.  It isn’t known how far negotiations might have developed between the two sides, and the Cubs eventually ended up moving Rizzo to the Yankees in another deal.

With Rizzo now set to enter the free agent market, it stands to reason that the Padres might still have interest in the veteran, especially since the power is a continued need for the team.  While Rizzo’s slugging percentage over the last two seasons is a modest .432 (a significant dropoff from his .513 SLG with the Cubs from 2014-19), the first baseman did hit 22 home runs last year.  Rizzo’s power numbers were also markedly better than those of Eric Hosmer, the Padres’ incumbent first baseman.

It’s probably safe to assume that the Padres’ inability to move Hosmer at the deadline contributed to the lack of movement on a potential Rizzo trade.  San Diego was reportedly looking into ways to move Hosmer earlier this year, and Lin figures the team will again try to unload Hosmer and/or Wil Myers to alleviate their payroll and luxury tax burdens.  Hosmer is still owed $59MM from 2022-25, with a luxury tax number of $18MM based on the annual average value of Hosmer’s original eight-year, $144MM contract.

Even if National League teams have the DH as an extra lineup spot to work with in 2022, Hosmer stands as the largest obstacle to Rizzo or any other first base addition, barring a trade.  Since Hosmer has provided barely more than replacement-level production (0.5 total fWAR) over the last four seasons, Rizzo would provide an upgrade, even if Rizzo’s own production has taken a step back over the last two seasons.

Rizzo hit .240/.343/.432 with 33 homers in 819 PA since the start of the 2020 season, good for an above-average but unspectacular 109 wRC+.  His hard-hit ball numbers have also been on the decline over the last two seasons, and his nine percent walk rate in 2021 was his lowest since 2012.  On the plus side, Rizzo has continued to be one of the game’s tougher hitters to strike out, which would naturally appeal to a Padres team that prizes contact — San Diego has the fourth-lowest strikeout rate of any team in baseball over the last two years.

There’s certainly still enough in Rizzo’s recent track record to merit a multi-year contract in free agency, and the 32-year-old is likely to land a healthy eight-figure salary.  While Rizzo wouldn’t necessarily represent huge savings in terms of pure dollars over Hosmer’s deal, the luxury tax savings may make it particularly worthwhile for the Padres.  Rizzo also isn’t attached to any draft pick compensation, since his midseason trade makes him ineligible for the qualifying offer.

If Rizzo did happen to wind up back in San Diego, it would represent something of a full circle move after he began his MLB career with the Padres back in 2011.  Initially a Red Sox draft pick, Rizzo was dealt to the Padres as part of the Adrian Gonzalez blockbuster in December 2010, and played only one season in San Diego before the Friars shipped him to the Cubs in January 2012.  From there, Rizzo ended up becoming a Wrigleyville icon, hitting .272/.372/.489 over parts of 10 seasons in Chicago and playing a major role in the team’s 2016 World Series title.

With power bats standing out as such a need for the Padres, Rizzo might not be the only former trade target who could again emerge on the team’s radar.  San Diego also had interest in acquiring Nelson Cruz and Joey Gallo before the two sluggers were respectively dealt to the Rays and Yankees, and Lin believes the Friars might look into either signing Cruz as a free agent (probably again depending on the status of the universal DH) or perhaps working out a Gallo trade with New York.

Looking For A Match In A Willson Contreras Trade

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Over the past year, the Cubs have sent a lot of good players out the door on their way to slashing payroll and starting a new rebuild. Yu Darvish, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel and more. But one of the key pieces of their recent competitive window remains. Despite occasional rumors that he was being shopped around, Willson Contreras is still a Cub. The backstop will be eligible for arbitration for a third and final time this winter, a season in which the Cubs are unlikely to be competitive, given their recent sell-off. That means they would be wise to commit to one of two paths, either extending him or trading him.

When choosing between the two paths, however, something that might tip the scales is the weak free agent crop of catchers this offseason. With such a low supply of catchers available, teams might have to turn to trades if they want to upgrade behind the plate. That could make Contreras a hot commodity, given his solid track record. Across the past six seasons, Contreras has a line of .259/349/.458, for a wRC+ of 114, producing 12 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs. Only five catchers in baseball produced more fWAR over that span. (Yasmani Grandal, J.T. Realmuto, Buster Posey Mike Zunino and Gary Sanchez.) Contreras has also been remarkably consistent in that time, with his wRC+ falling between 101 and 126 each year, and his fWAR always between 0.7 and 2.7.

Financially speaking, he won’t be prohibitively expensive. His 2021 salary was $6.65MM. He will get a raise on that through arbitration, probably to the $10MM range, approximately half of what Grandal, Realmuto and Posey are making per year on their current contracts.

As to who would be interested in acquiring him, it would have to be a team with a need behind the plate, of course. But given that he only has one year of control, it would also have to be a win-now club. Let’s look at which teams could fit the bill.

Cleveland: Roberto Perez can be controlled for 2022 with a club option valued at $7MM. However, he’s now two years removed from his excellent 2019 season. Since then, he’s only played 76 games due to various injuries and hit .155/.253/.277 for a wRC+ of 49. Austin Hedges got 85 starts at catcher this year and hit just .178/.220/.308 for a wRC+ of 40. There’s certainly room for improvement on that kind of production. The club also has maximum payroll flexibility. Once they exercise their $11MM club option on Jose Ramirez, that will bring their total 2022 payroll commitments up to the range of… $11MM. Bringing in Contreras along with a few free agents, and then having some better health in the rotation, 2022 could see the club easily surpass their 80-82 record from this year.

Mariners: After surprising the baseball world with a 90-win campaign, the Mariners have seemingly moved beyond rebuilding and into competing. In 2021, they gave playing time to Luis Torrens, Tom Murphy and Cal Raleigh, none of whom ran away with the job. Murphy had a tremendous season in the shortened 2019 but couldn’t replicate it in 2021. He hit .202/.304/.350 this year, for a wRC+ of 87 and 1.0 fWAR. Torrens was better with the bat but was mostly being used as a designated hitter down the stretch. Raleigh has decent defensive numbers but hit a paltry .180/.223/.309 for a wRC+ of 47. Mariners’ president Jerry Dipoto recently spoke about adding more offense for 2022 and has a trade-happy reputation. Going after Contreras could be one way to add some more thump to Seattle’s lineup.

Red Sox: In 2021, Boston split the catching duties between Christian Vazquez and Kevin Plawecki, both of whom were okay but not great. Vazquez hit .258/.308/.352, wRC+ of 77. Plawecki’s line was .287/.308/.389, wRC+ of 102. They each produced 0.5 fWAR. Both of them have one year of team control left, as Plawecki is going into his final arbitration year whereas the Red Sox have a $7MM club option on Vazquez. Contreras would be an upgrade for the 2022 season and could help bridge the gap to younger catchers like Connor Wong and Ronaldo Hernandez.

Rockies: The Rockies gave most of their 2021 catching starts to Elias Diaz, who had a sudden power breakout. Coming into this year, he had 15 home runs in 273 career games. In 2021, he had 18 dingers in 106 games. Despite this power surge, he still only put up a wRC+ of 92, partially because of playing his home games at Coors. (wRC+ controls for ballpark factors.) Dom Nunez was the primary backup to Diaz, and he put up a line of .189/.293/.399, which adds up to a wRC+ of just 69. Contreras could easily provide a boost to this tandem, if the club thinks it’s in win-now mode, which they apparently do.

Yankees: It’s become an annual tradition for people to debate whether or not the Yankees will stick with Gary Sanchez. His tremendous early years have seemed too tantalizing to give up on, even as he’s struggled more recently. In 2021, he was competent enough, hitting .204/.307/.423, producing a wRC+ of 99 and 1.5 fWAR. Like Contreras, he is going into his final arbitration season, and will be due a raise on a salary of $6.35MM. Could the Yankees be willing to swap him out for a catcher with a similar payout but more consistent production?

Cubs Narrow Search For New General Manager

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Cubs president Jed Hoyer is narrowing his search for a new general manager, focusing on candidates with a strong history in player development. A decision could come after the divisional round of the playoffs. Per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney, among the final candidates are Carlos Rodriguez of the Rays, Carter Hawkins and James Harris of Cleveland, and Jeremy Zoll of the Twins. There may be other candidates, but these four at least are in the running.

Hawkins and Harris both have a hand in building Cleveland’s successful farm system and pitching development team. Hawkins began as an advanced scouting intern back in 2008, elevating to AGM before the 2017 season. Harris is Cleveland’s vice president of player development. Harris actually comes from football, having worked as Chip Kelly’s Chief of Staff when he was head coach of the Eagles.

Zoll is an assistant general manager in Minnesota, focusing on minor league operations. He is a Harvard alum who also worked with the Dodgers and Angels. Exposure to multiple franchises and differing ways of evaluating the game should be a boon to Zoll’s resume. Being a part of Minnesota’s homegrown approach to team-building is also likely viewed as an asset for a Cubs’ team looking to create a better development engine than they’ve had in recent years under Theo Epstein’s reign.

As for Rodriguez, it’s not surprising to see the Cubs explore poaching a Rays’ executive. The Rays have proven adept at building a farm system that should keep Tampa competitive for years to come. Former Rays’ executives hold top positions in Los Angeles, Boston, and Houston, and they’ve proven successful both in and outside of Tampa Bay. Rodriguez is their vice president of player development and international scouting.

For the Cubs, they are desperate to build a development team that can do a better job of sustaining success than their previous efforts. Though the Ricketts Family oversaw unprecedented success in Wrigley Field during the Joe Maddon era, those contenders fizzled out after three consecutive NLCS appearances from 2015 to 2017. Bottoming out with a 91-loss club this year, the Cubs are more-or-less starting from scratch in building a true contender.

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