Chicago Cubs pitching coach Jim Hickey has, per an official team release, stepped down from his position due to personal matters.
According to an official team release (via Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic Chicago), Chicago Cubs pitching coach Jim Hickey has stepped down due to personal reasons. The release also notes that the club will begin searching for his replacement.
Hickey, 57, would have been entering his second season as the Cubs pitching coach, joining the organization in 2017 after being the pitching coach of the Tampa Bay Rays for 11 seasons. Prior to that, he served as the pitching coach for the Houston Astros, spending three years with that team after a lengthy stint as a minor league manager in the system.
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Before joining the Cubs organization, Hickey was considered a prime candidate for the pitching coach positions with the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, both of whom he spoke to before going to Chicago.
For the Cubs, this becomes the second coach that has departed this offseason. Hitting coach Chilli Davis, who’d been with the team for just a year, was relieved of his duties earlier this offseason. Now, manager Joe Maddon will have to bring in new voices in order to guide his squad.
With a team that is still hungry for another championship, the names Maddon (and the Cubs front office) bring in to support the club are vital to their future success. Though Hickey was a tremendous influence on the pitching staff, sometimes one can’t stop everything from going wrong.
For now, the Chicago Cubs will try and adequately replace Hickey at the same time as trying to navigate a crucial offseason that should see them switch up a fair bit of their already strong roster. It’ll be interesting to see who they select, and what the process will be in selecting that coach.