The Chicago Cubs have added a new face to the coaching staff in Mark Loretta.
The Chicago Cubs long and winding search for a complete coaching staff finally concluded Wednesday with the hiring of Mark Loretta as bench coach.
In that capacity Loretta will be the chief counsel to Joe Maddon, a relationship that should be interesting to observe since the two men have never worked together.
Loretta is the fourth addition to the Cubs’ coaching staff. He replaces Brandon Hyde, who was hired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Hyde had replaced Dave Martinez when Martinez was hired as Washington Nationals manager following the 2017 season.
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The putting together of the coaching staff has been a Rubik’s Cube-level challenge for the Cubs and Maddon, in part because the loss of Hyde to Baltimore was not anticipated. Neither was the retirement of pitching coach Jim Hickey, who stepped down at season’s end for personal reasons. He was replaced by Tommy Hottovy.
Batting coach Chili Davis was dismissed at season’s end following what was generally viewed as a disappointing 2018 offensive season. The Cubs eventually replaced him with Anthony Iapoce. They also lost assistant hitting coach Andy Haines, hired by the Brewers to be their hitting coach; Haines will be succeeded by Termell Sledge.
Loretta had a 15-year playing career, much of it as an infielder with the Milwaukee Brewers. A two-time All Star, he had a career .295 batting average. He retired in 2010 and since then has worked in the San Diego Padres front office. He was brought in to that front office position by current Cubs GM Jed Hoyer, who at the time was the Padres general manager.
He also played briefly for the Red Sox under Theo Epstein.
The Hoyer-Loretta connection, coupled with the absence of any Maddon-Loretta connection, stoked wonderment whether Loretta might be the administration’s designated successor to Maddon. At season’s end the Cubs manager, who took the team to a World Series victory in 2016, was very publicly denied an early extension of his managerial contract, which expires at the end of the 2019 season.
Obviously, neither the Chicago Cubs, Mark Loretta, nor Joe Maddon fed that speculation in the announcement of his hiring.