NEWSLETTER
We may get a little insight into Joe Maddon’s (and the front office’s) plan for the coaching staff later today now that there’s been a managerial change, but it’s always been a decent bet that, all things equal, the Cubs would want to hang onto pitching coach Chris Bosio.
Together, Bosio, the pitching infrastructure in the organization (which includes some other coaches and instructors), and the front office, have excelled at identifying and developing/preserving/tweaking pitchers over the past three years to get the most out of them. Sure, there have been a few failures – it would be impossible for there not to be – but Samardzija, Maholm, Wood, Feldman, Hammel, Arrieta, Hendricks, the relievers, etc. … there have been a disproportionately large number of successes. So pleased were the Cubs with Bosio’s performance, they signed him to an extension last year before they’d even hired Rick Renteria. Before the managerial change, the Cubs had said that Bosio would be returning next year.
All of that militates in favor of Maddon keeping Bosio in his current role when he sits down to make out his coaching staff. But what if another team comes sniffing around in the interim?
Bruce Levine reports that, if the Minnesota Twins hire Paul Molitor as manager, as they are widely expected to do at this point, they could try to “get the band back together,” so to speak, bringing in a huge group of former Brewers players to be the coaching staff. That would include Bosio.
Would the Cubs even allow Bosio, who is under contract for 2015, to speak with the Twins? Given the relationship he could have with the staff there, you might assume the answer would be yes. Then again, last year, Bosio was reportedly highly sought-after, and, despite a managerial change, the Cubs denied requests to interview him, and instead gave Bosio an extension that made him one of the highest-paid pitching coaches in the game (Sun-Times).
What’s tricky in knowing whether Bosio will be around next year is the four inputs involved: does Bosio want to stay with the Cubs? does the front office want Bosio to stay? does Joe Maddon want Bosio to stay? do the Twins want Bosio?
Right now, it’s fair to assume that the front office does want Bosio to stay, and, if that’s the case, Maddon could probably be on board with it as well. Now we see what happens if Molitor is hired, and if the Twins seek a chance to speak with Bosio.
