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The Cubs have slowly but surely added people to their coaching staff, though the position of pitching coach remains vacant.
They’ve got an assistant hitting coach now to help out Anthony Iapoce:
Sources: The Cubs are planning to add Terrmel Sledge to Joe Maddon’s staff as the assistant hitting coach. Sledge worked in the Cubs’ farm system (2015) and as a Double-A hitting coach for the Dodgers (2016-18). After his big-league career, Sledge played with Yu Darvish in Japan.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) November 29, 2018
Sledge was drafted in 1999 by the Mariners and traded to the Montreal Expos (remember them?) in 2000. He made his MLB debut in 2004 and had a pretty good rookie year, hitting .269/.336/.442 with 15 home runs in 398 at-bats, producing 1.3 bWAR and finishing sixth in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting.
As noted by Patrick Mooney, Sledge played in Japan, five years in NPB, where he hit .263/.343/.487 with 96 home runs in 501 games.
Per this Washington Post article, here’s how Sledge got his name:
Sledge’s father couldn’t decide whether to name him Terrence or his own name, Melvin, so he combined the two, with unusual results.
As noted, this leaves just pitching coach as a vacancy on the Cubs staff. Based on recent rumors, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cubs name Tommy Hottovy to that spot soon.
As always, we await further developments.