Chicago Cubs News: We need to let Anthony Iapoce go

The Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Iapoce has been with the team since 2019. It’s 2020. He needs to go now.

He was the Chicago Cubs‘ special assistant to the General Manager for player development (say that five times fast) from 2013 to 2015, then he rejoined the Cubs as hitting coach in 2019. It’s 2020, and Anthony Iapoce has got to go.

And ‘player development’? Please. We’ve taken a fallback in player development in the last year. Ian Happ and Jason Heyward were the best they were. Happ was down in Triple-A, and Heyward was terrible. They were good. The rest? Not so much.

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Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo barely hit the Mendoza line. Kyle Schwarber did not (.188). Nico Hoerner was called-up the last half of the 2019 season and was good, slashing .282/.305/.436 with an OPS of .741. This year? .222/.312/.259 with an OPS of .571. Do you see the difference with Iapoce? It’s 60 games, but that can be accounted for. But five players not ‘pulling their weight? C’mon, man!

I don’t know what Iapoce did as ‘assistant to the General Manager of player development’–because he did not. Maybe that’s why Theo Epstein let him get away, but brought him back because he had now nowhere to turn as far as a hitting coach. And in two years, I know why.

I know why he isn’t shown on Marquee Sports Network, ABC 7 or whatever broadcast they’re on. He’s not ‘in to’ it, did you ever notice that? He spends his time on the bench and never moves from there. Ever notice that?  He coaches from his seat and nowhere else. Pretty strange, if you ask me.

In the end, two years was plenty to realize he’s not the man for the job. At 47, he’s got a ways to go for coaching, and maybe he’ll find it. There’s still a lot of teams out there that are ripe for hitting instructors or coaches–maybe he’ll stick to one. The Pittsburgh Pirates sound like a good one, but that’s just me.

In the end, I’ll assume he’ll be gone. And the seventh hitting coach in nine years will be next. Man. Seven in nine years? Ugh.