Cubs promote Hyde to player-development post

The Cubs took another big step Wednesday in their front-office restructuring when they promoted Brandon Hyde from minor-league field coordinator to director of player development.

He essentially replaces longtime farm boss Oneri Fleita, who was fired earlier this month.

Hyde, who had no previous connection to either team president Theo Epstein or general manager Jed Hoyer, joined the Cubs last off-season after spending nine seasons in the Florida Marlins organization.

He spent four years as a player in the White Sox organization, from 1997-2000 as a catcher-first baseman.

Hyde was short on specifics when asked what areas of the Cubs’ system need attention.

“The bottom line for us is we’re just trying to develop impact big-leaguers,” he said. “Whether that’s pitching or hitting, we’re trying to get the whole package.

“I don’t want to single out one area. The bottom line is our job is to get as many guys to play in Wrigley Field as we can, and impact players.”

Manager Dale Sveum said he would provide whatever input he could on development.

“Whether you’re starting over again, but when you’ve got new people in these high positions like this, we want to build this minor-league system to where we have complete players when they get here,” Sveum said. “There’s a lot of things we’ll talk about. We’ve already talked about a few.

“Going forward, we’ll talk about a lot of things that you want to see done in the minor leagues on a daily basis as well as anything, more of a philosophy-type thing, coming up with a philosophy that we want, whether it’s hitting, pitching, so on and so forth.

“The development factor has to be put in stone, etched in stone. It’s one way, and if you don’t want to do it that way, do something else.”

Rizzo doesn’t start: First baseman Anthony Rizzo got a rare start off Wednesday night. Rizzo entered the night 4-for-18 on the homestand, and he hadn#146;t homered since Aug. 5. #147;Kick back again and get things worked out,#148; Dale Sveum said. #147;Just a little breather. It#146;s just a combination. He#146;s not feeling right at the plate.#147;Just snowballing a little bit right now, so you want to stop that from snowballing any further. Just let him kick back and work with (hitting coach James Rowson) today and get things ironed out.#147;Trying to work things out. I think there are some thoughts and thinking too much and trying to do too much all the time instead of just letting it happen.#147;Who knows the real reasons why. To me, it#146;s just more of a young man that got here and was obviously on top of the world and doing everything.#147;Unfortunately, sometimes in this game if you try to tell some young guys that for some reason in this game, when you#146;re going good, you#146;re just putting yourself in a slump sometimes.#147;Why that happens, it#146;s the million-dollar question in hitting, why all of a sudden you#146;re on top of the world and all of a sudden, the next day, you feel like you#146;re on ice skates in the batter#146;s box.#148;