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Players aren’t being signed or traded yet, but so far Theo Epstein’s comments about things changing with the Cubs is true up and down the organization. Even before the season was over Jason McLeod was moved from the amateur scouting department and the team completely shuffled up its player development department, implementing new hitting and pitching directors as well.
Joe Maddon is now with the Angels and new Cubs manager David Ross will have a new bench coach and third base coach in 2020.
Those are just some of the latest changes, as the team is also looking to modernize its strength and conditioning program. With long-time coach Tim Buss leaving to join Joe Maddon out West, the Cubs are going to overhaul that entire part of their organization.
But the changes aren’t stopping there.
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Back in June Mark O’Neal was hired by the University of Arkansas to be the head trainer of its men’s basketball team. O’Neal had been the Cubs trainer from 2004-11, and was then promoted to an administration position in 2012, working with the team’s medical and training staff.
More changes to the medical staff will follow this offseason.
Hey, I’m all for more changes to the medical and training staffs. The running joke for the past couple seasons with the Cubs is that any time a player went down with a minor injury fans would just be waiting for it to become worse. A player out for a few days would then be placed on the injured list, or in some cases a player would be unavailable for as long as a week, but never placed on the injured list.
Who knows, maybe those issues just came down to poor communication between the medical staff to the front office to the manager, but things just seemed off with injuries on the Cubs for the last few years. So, bring on the changes.
