Andy Green named Cubs bench coach

Just a couple days ago, it was rumored that former Padres manager Andy Green would be named Cubs bench coach.

Now, that’s happened:

Green was Padres manager for the last four seasons. He was let go by San Diego with eight games remaining in the 2019 season. Before that, he spent four years managing in the minor leagues in the Diamondbacks chain. He spent 2015 as Arizona’s major-league third base coach. As a player, Green was the D-backs’ 24th-round draft pick in 2000 out of the University of Kentucky. He played parts of three seasons with Arizona from 2004-06 and one with the Mets (2009) as an infielder.

Green and new Cubs manager David Ross are just about the same age; both will turn 43 next year. The experience Green has already had as a coach and manager will be invaluable to Ross, who has no such experience at all.

The Cubs’ coaching staff now looks like this (new hires in italics):

Bench: Andy Green
Pitching: Tommy Hottovy
Hitting: Anthony Iapoce
First base: Will Venable (his 2020 status has not been announced)
Third base: Vacant
Assistant hitting: Terrmel Sledge (his 2020 status has not been announced)
Catching/assistant pitching: Mike Borzello
Bullpen: Chris Young
Quality assurance: Vacant
Bullpen catcher: Chad Noble (his 2020 status has not been announced)

Mark Loretta, who spent one year under Joe Maddon as bench coach, won’t be back at all:

So there will be at least four new coaches for the Cubs in 2020, the two already announced and two to fill vacant positions. Two others (three if you include Chad Noble) might be replaced.

This feels different than the shifting around of certain coaching positions as was done under Maddon the last couple of years. There’s likely to be a major shift in the way coaching is done under David Ross, and given the bad way 2019 ended, that’s probably a good thing.

As always, we await further developments regarding the coaching staff.