Chicago Cubs Undergo Major Coaching Shakeup

The Chicago Cubs have decided to make some coaching changes after lackluster season.

Jul 21, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner (2) is congratulated by first base coach Mike Napoli (55) after he was walked to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings at Wrigley Field. / Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs made a huge splash in the offseason when they hired Craig Counsell and gave him the largest managerial contract ever. Despite giving him such a large contract, Counsell retained the coaches from the previous regime. On Monday, after the season ended, it was reported by ESPN's Jesse Rogers that the Cubs would be letting a few different coaches go.

Two coaches who were let go, Mike Napoli and Jim Adduci, were left over from the previous coaching staff. The other main staffer who was let go was hired before the 2024 season in Darren Holmes.

Napoli was hired to be the quality assurance coach in 2019 and was later elevated to becoming the first base coach. Adduci was brought in prior to the 2021 season and was the game planning and assistant hitting coach.

Holmes was brought in with the Counsell staff as the bullpen coach.

The house cleaning does not come as a surprise. With such a big contract and the amount of control that Counsell likely has, he wants to bring in "his guys." This means he wants complete control over the coaching staff and will want people he is either familiar with or respects having coached against them.

The statistical reasons for these coaches being let go is hard to quantify from the outside, as the organization likely has certain statistics they look at to judge them. It would be difficult to use public statistics to judge these specific coaches.

For example, Chicago was above league average when it comes to stolen bases, which is something to look at with a first base coach. A bullpen coach or game planning is nearly impossible to judge from the outside.

Again, this likely all comes down to Counsell and him wanting to build his own staff from scratch heading into his second season with the Cubs.