Coaching Changes, Bryant Shoulder, Defense, and Other Notes

Nov 08, 2018

There’s just too much sometimes. Much love to you all. On with the baseball stuff …

So, if it was a 50/50 shot yesterday, you can pretty much now take it to the bank that Jim Hickey is not going to be back as the Cubs’ pitching coach next year:

Theo Epstein gave a “no comment” re pitching coach Jim Hickey’s status with the Cubs. Says team not ready to announce anything yet but will soon.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 8, 2018

I wonder if the Cubs are trying to get the next pitching coach lined up before they announce anything, or if Hickey is trying to find a new gig before things are announced. Either way, this has just been a crazy volume of turnover on the coaching staff the last three years. It would be crazy if the Cubs were terrible, let alone them being a club that wins 92-95 games.

The Cubs, by the way, will also announce a new assistant hitting coach at some point.

Status check on Kris Bryant’s shoulder, according to Jed Hoyer: healing as hoped, still no surgery expected.

His name is Javy Baez:

Name a better defensive player in 2018 …

We’ll wait. pic.twitter.com/pMPclaaKf0

— MLB (@MLB) November 8, 2018

Speaking of defense, Bryce Harper comes in for a tough review at FanGraphs, noting just how horribly he rated defensively in 2018 after previously being pretty much just fine. I tend to think it was flukey, given the nature of the stats, his age and health, and his much longer defensive track record of being just fine. But Jeff Sullivan is right that it’s not a zero consideration, and it’s something teams will have to reckon with if they want to risk signing him to a monster deal.

Nico Hoerner keeps impressing in the AFL:

Nico with a dope play at SS #Cubs pic.twitter.com/0fXnSfnQBq

— Mike Rosenbaum (@GoldenSombrero) November 8, 2018

The challenge these days:

“I’m being paid to be general manager of the New York Yankees,” Brian Cashman said. “Have I ventured in at times? Yes. But I try on behalf of myself, my family, my organization to tread lightly. But I have entered the arena on a few occasions” https://t.co/6e1h2JbKSM
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) November 7, 2018

Trollololololol:

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/1060386132528193537

Cast iron cookware and a temperature-controlled travel mug are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon today.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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