Chicago Cubs: Is a new coaching staff the team’s biggest acquisition?

The Chicago Cubs have been remarkably quiet for a team in the middle of a contention window. But their coaching staff changes could pay huge dividends.

Things have changed quite a bit in the last half-decade. The Chicago Cubs have become a perennial contender, winning 90+ games in each of the last four seasons. That’s led to three NLCS appearances, an NL pennant, two division titles and a World Series championship – not to mention the individual accolades that have piled up during that span.

Jake Arrieta won the 2015 National League Cy Young thanks to a historic second half, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks finished as Cy Young finalists a year later and Kris Bryant won the Rookie of the Year in ’15 and followed it up with NL Most Valuable Player honors one year later. And don’t forget about Joe Maddon‘s Manager of the Year hardware, either.

Despite the success, though, an abrupt end to the 2018 season left a bad taste in fans’ mouths – one that has carried deep into the offseason. With less than one month until pitchers and catchers report to Mesa, the club’s only significant (and I use that term fairly loosely) addition is veteran infielder Daniel Descalso, who replaces fan favorite Tommy La Stella, whom the Cubs traded to the Angels early in the winter.

At least so far, there’s been no press conference introducing Bryce Harper or Manny Machado. Even with Craig Kimbrel‘s market developing at a snail’s pace, the Cubs don’t seem to be in on the veteran closer, either – despite a dire need at the back end of the bullpen.

But what if I told you that they’ve already made the moves that will shape this year’s club? I’m not talking about Descalso – or even the decision to bring back Cole Hamels via his $20 million team option for 2019.

I’m talking about the overhauled coaching staff.

Chicago Cubs: A Mallee disciple returns home

His counterpart on the offensive side of things, new hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, shares a lot of these characteristics, as well – and will hopefully reinvigorate a club that ranked 23rd in MLB with a .705 OPS after the All-Star Break and batted just .239 with a .303 on-base percentage in the month of September.

The team-wide offensive woes aligned with individual struggles (shocking, I know) – as we saw guys like Albert Almora, Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras go into a nosedive down the stretch. But in Iapoce, the Cubs are hoping that their young stars can recapture the magic that led them to a league-best 103 wins in 2016 and back-to-back division titles in ’16 and ’17.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the 2017 Texas Rangers became the first big league team ever to have nine different players smack at least 17 home runs in a single season under Iapoce’s tutelage. There’s little doubt Chicago boasts the talent to take a run at that figure in 2019.

Also similar to Hottovy, there is a strong sense of familiarity between most of the Cubs’ players and Iapoce. Prior to his work with Texas, he served as Chicago’s minor league hitting coordinator from 2013-2015 – a period of time that lines up with the rise of most of the team’s now-big leaguers.

Chicago Cubs: A breath of fresh air can work wonders

More importantly, I think what these two guys bring to the table is a forward-thinking mindset.

When you’re working with guys you have a longstanding relationship with (Hickey, for example), someone like Maddon may be less likely to go head-to-head in situations or change how you view the game. This new blood could very well motivate the Cubs skipper to challenge the status quo and attack things in different ways in 2019.

It hasn’t been the offseason any of us expected – at least not yet. But instead of succumbing to the doom and gloom naysayers who will undoubtedly make their presence felt at Cubs Convention this weekend, I think it’s time to embrace the talent on this roster – and on the coaching staff.