Cubs coaching moves: Tommy Hottovy, Mike Borzello returning; Chris Denorfia out

We learned earlier Thursday that former Phillies pitching coach Chris Young will be the new Cubs bullpen coach, as new manager David Ross puts together his staff.

Per Patrick Mooney at The Athletic, some of the coaches from 2019 under Joe Maddon will be returning:

As the Cubs make changes throughout their baseball operations department, Ross’ staff is taking shape with Chris Young hired as the new bullpen coach, and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, hitting coach Anthony Iapoce and catching/strategy coach Mike Borzello expected to remain in those roles again next season, sources said Thursday.

So, at the very least, Cubs pitchers will have the same staff leading them in 2020 as they did in 2019. That’s good for consistency’s sake, as is the fact that hitting coach Anthony Iapoce will return. Last year, Mike Borzello had the title “assistant pitching coach” added to his resume. Hottovy, who’s not much older than Jon Lester, was reportedly in high demand as a possible pitching coach last offseason. While the team performance overall was disappointing, I think Hottovy did a pretty good job considering all the injuries the staff had to deal with. Hopefully he’ll have a healthy staff beginning 2020.

Mooney also reports that quality control coach Chris Denorfia will not return. Denorfia, who was a useful bench player for the 97-win 2015 wild-card Cubs, was in his first year as a big-league coach. Among the duties of the QC coach, in case you were wondering, is to help the guys in the dugout decide whether to issue a replay review challenge.

Ross, along with the front office, will decide who’s on the rest of the 2020 coaching staff. With several announcements already this week, I’d think we will hear more very soon. Here’s who’s been hired so far for 2020, along with the coach who held the position in 2019 (if he hasn’t already departed):

Bench coach: no announcement yet, Mark Loretta in 2019
First base coach: no announcement yet, Will Venable in 2019
Third base coach: Vacant
Pitching coach: Tommy Hottovy
Hitting coach: Anthony Iapoce
Bullpen coach: Chris Young
Catching/strategy coach: Mike Borzello
Assistant hitting coach: no announcement yet, Terrmel Sledge in 2019
Quality assurance coach: Vacant
Bullpen catcher: Chad Noble

So that makes at least two, and possibly five more announcements to come. As always, we await developments.