Chicago Cubs were outplayed, outsmarted by the Brewers in last 12 months

We all know how the Chicago Cubs 2018 campaign ended. The path to that disappointed was paved by a front office that just didn’t get it done

First, let me say this: I love these guys.  From the owner on down to the baseball operations leadership. I think this is the best run, best managed, best array of baseball talent of any Chicago Cubs team I have seen.  And I have been following the Cubs since 1969.

They rebuilt the entire organization from top to bottom, which has led to the best stretch of Cubs baseball in over 100 years. So this is not an indictment of the entirety of their effort, nor a repudiation of their approach.  But it is a specific critique of the last offseason and the need to right the ship.

After the 2017 season, the team jettisoned a raft full of Cubs coaches. Pitching coach Chris Bosio, hitting coaches John Mallee and Eric Hinske and third base coach Gary Jones, among others, were shown the door.  Clearly, a change was in the air.  The 2018 season would be different.  It certainly was.

Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said many things after the end of the 2018 season. He said Joe Maddon‘s status remains unchanged, that the offense broke and that they will shift from evaluating talent to evaluating performance.

That last part caught my attention.  Whose performance, exactly?  At least, initially, we got an answer when they fired hitting coach Chili Davis shortly after the conclusion of the season.