Chicago Cubs working quickly, quietly to find Bosio's replacement
The Chicago Cubs are moving quickly - and quietly - on replacing pitching coach Chris Bosio, whom they fired over the weekend.
The team acknowledged the firing Monday, two days after word of the dismissal broke.
There was no formal news release, as the Cubs say they are trying to respect Major League Baseball's edict against making big announcements during the World Series, which begins Tuesday night.
On Monday, the Cubs interviewed Chicago native Jim Hickey for the pitching-coach job. Hickey was the pitching coach for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2006 until the two sides parted ways early this month. Hickey worked under current Cubs manager Joe Maddon from November 2006 until Maddon left to take the Cubs managerial job in the fall of 2014.
Maddon has been away on a personal matter and also has not commented on the Bosio firing or on Hickey's chances.
If Maddon pushes hard enough for Hickey, it's possible this process could be over soon even with other intriguing names out there, such as Mike Maddux, who recently was let go as part of the purge that cost Dusty Baker his job as manager of the Washington Nationals.
The Nats, by the way are interviewing current Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez for the manager job. The Cubs will have one more vacancy. The Los Angeles Angels on Monday hired Eric Hinske, the Cubs' assistant hitting coach, to be their hitting coach.
It has been an awkward few days for the Cubs, and it might have behooved them to bend MLB's gag order for the sake of clarity.
Before last week's Game 4 of the National League championship series, Maddon said his coaches would be welcome back.
"Of course, yes," he said. "The staff's done a great job. Our staff's been awesome. And they're tight. It's a tightly knit group. There's a lot of synergy involved.
"Nobody knows everything. Everybody helps everybody. There's a lot of cross pollination. Nobody's on their own little island. I like that.
"The thing I like is that I don't think any of them ever withholds saying something from me that they have on their mind, which I really appreciate."
The next day. Maddon was asked about Hickey.
"We have not discussed," Maddon said. "I have talked to him. I just wanted to know how he was doing, purely, because it kind of surprised me. It surprised a lot of us.
"I did talk to him. But we talk all the time. He sends me texts when he's driving over the causeways down there because he knows how much I love looking for dolphins driving over the Howard Franklin (Bridge) or the Gandy Bridge.
"He's funny. He's a funny guy. We had a great relationship, and he's going to turn out just fine. He's going to be well sought after."
Maddon was then asked if Hickey would be part of the Cubs' staff next year.
"No, that's not … I called him to console a friend," he said.
Cubs president Theo Epstein added some intrigue last Friday during his end-of-year news conference. When I asked him about the coaching staff, he said that any coach Maddon wanted back, he could have back.
Epstein then may have telegraphed the team's intentions when he said the walk rate among relievers had to be better, even throwing a "come on," in for emphasis.
Perhaps now Maddon wishes he wasn't so emphatic in denying interest in Hickey.
On the other side of the coin, Maddon came to Chicago as a high-profile, highly paid manager, and he inherited virtually his entire coaching staff. He did get to hire Martinez, his bench coach in Tampa Bay.
That pushed Brandon Hyde from the bench to first base. It also forced the Cubs to reassign Doug Dascenzo from his role as first-base coach to outfield and baserunning coordinator in the minor leagues.
Until the Bosio firing, Maddon's coaching staff had been intact for three full seasons. Bosio worked under three managers since the 2012 season: Dale Sveum, Rick Renteria and Maddon. That's a rarity these days.
Maybe the Cubs felt their pitchers needed a new voice.
Soon the Cubs will have that new voice. But it may be awhile before we hear from that voice and from those who installed it.