Update: Cubs Hire Special Pitching Assistant
The Chicago Cubs are in the midst of several coaching changes this offseason and on Monday the team made a major hire, adding respected pitching trainer Tyler Zombro to the organization. The former minor league pitcher has earned the reputation of being one of the smartest people in baseball and now he’ll be working for the Cubs.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the hiring.
Two notes I got from someone outside the Cubs organization on the hiring of Zombro:
— Greg Huss (@OutOfTheVines) November 18, 2024
• He’s on the leading edge of pitching evolution
• He’s one of the top 3 smartest pitching minds in the game
I think the Cubs got a good one https://t.co/6nEW9z1Bkz
You can read more about Zombro here.
(Previous Update)
A bit surprising because Mike Napoli seemed to be a popular coach in the Cubs clubhouse, but at the same time I think we all expected that Craig Counsell was going to bring in a few of his own guys now that he has more time to assemble his coaching staff.
Napoli, who was part of David Ross’ original coaching staff to begin the 2020 season, was one of a handful of Cubs personnel who were let go by the organization on Monday. According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Napoli, along with assistant hitting coach Jim Adduci and bullpen coach Darren Holmes have been relieved of their duties with the Cubs.
Adduci was also brought in for the 2020 season alongside Napoli. Interestingly enough, Holmes was hired last December, so he only lasted one year with the Cubs.
I know that Napoli is getting all the headlines, but maybe the most important changes are coming in the training room. The Cubs are also making a change with a few of their strength coaches.
At 83-79 to end the 2024 season the Cubs failed to improve from last year. Off the top of my head here are pitchers who went on the 15-day injured list at least once this year: Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, Kyle Hendricks, Ben Brown, Julian Merryweather, Luke Little, Adbert Alzolay, Keegan Thompson, Daniel Palencia, Drew Smyly, Caleb Kilian, Keegan Thompson, Mark Leiter Jr., Hayden Wesneski and Jorge Lopez.
Colten Brewer also went on the IL, but his injury was self-inflicted when he punched the dugout wall at Wrigley Field following a bad outing.
Oh and I’m not done yet because that list above was all pitchers. Here are the position players who missed weeks of playing time throughout the 2024 season: Patrick Wisdom, Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson, Mike Tauchman, Nick Madrigal and Tomas Nido.
There was also that week in May, when Nico Hoerner wasn’t placed on the injured list, but he also didn’t play in any games because of a hamstring strain. Then in June, Hoerner had a fracture in his hand after getting drilled by Hunter Greene. Again, Hoerner wasn’t put on the IL and returned to the field after missing a few games.
Are the strength coaches to blame for all those injuries? Probably not, but at the same time that’s a ridiculous amount of injuries, some similar and to the same players (Seiya Suzuki) so maybe a change is justified.
As of now there aren’t more coaching changes expected, but it’s still early in the offseason to set that in stone. Same goes with the front office, where we could also see some movement from the Cubs.
