The Cubs didn't shake things up much in the minors for 2014.
The Cubsannounced the minor league managers, coaches and staff for 2014, and there aren't a lot of changes from the successful 2013 campaign. All five of the managers of the top five affiliates return to the same team. That's Marty Pevey in Iowa, Buddy Bailey in Tennessee, Dave Keller in Daytona, Mark Johnson in Kane County and Gary Van Tol in Boise. For the Cubs rookie league team in Mesa, Jimmy Gonzalez takes over after having served as the hitting coach there the year before. Juan Cabreja takes over the Dominican Cubs and Pedro Gonzalez is the new Venezuelan skipper.
The bigger movement is among the pitching coaches. Most notably: Storm Davis, who received a lot of praise and credit as the pitching coach for the Florida State League champion Daytona Cubs, moves up to Tennessee, presumably to work with mostly the same prospects. Likewise, Ron Villone is the new Daytona pitching coach after having served in the same capacity for Kane County and David Rosario moves up from Boise to Kane County.
The new Iowa pitching coach comes from outside the organization. Bruce Walton served as the Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach from 2010 to 2012 and will share that major league experience with the I-Cubs this season. Brian Lawrence takes over as the pitching coach for Boise after coming over from the Padres High-A affiliate in Lake Elsinore last season. It's good to see the Padres allow Jed Hoyer to interview their coaches.
Down in Venezuela, the new pitching coach is a familiar name to all of you: former Cub Angel Guzman.
There's no movement among the hitting coaches in the minors, so that means Bill Buckner will still be in Boise (where he wants to be, in truth) and Brian Harper will still work with the hitters in Iowa. Desi Wilson, Mariano Duncan and Tom Beyers continue in their same jobs with the Smokies, D-Cubs and Cougars respectively, although Wilson will get an assistant hitting coach in Leo Perez, who has been a catching instructor in the organization previously.
The Cubs minor league organization had a pretty successful year everywhere last year (except for the W-L record in Kane County, I guess) so it's not a surprise that there is little to no shakeup in the organization. The Cubs kept all the top managers where they are and kept the pitching coaches with the prospects that are moving up to a higher league.
Here is a complete list of the organization's managers, coaches and trainers; boldface indicates a member of the staff from last year who's in a new position, boldface italics indicates a staff member new to the Cubs organization for 2014.
AFFILIATE MANAGER PITCHING COACH HITTING COACH/ASST. TRAINER =================================================================================== Iowa Marty Pevey Bruce Walton Brian Harper Scott Barringer Tennessee Buddy Bailey Storm Davis Desi Wilson Shane NelsonLeo Perez Daytona Dave Keller Ron Villone Mariano Duncan Peter Fagan Kane County Mark Johnson David Rosario Tom Beyers Jonathan Fiero Boise Gary Van Tol Brian Lawrence Bill Buckner Toby Williams Mesa Jimmy Gonzalez Anderson Tavares Ricardo Medina Mike McNulty Dominican Juan Cabreja Leo Hernandez Oscar BernardJose AlvarezYudith Ozorio Venezuela Pedro GonzalezAngel Guzman Franklin Blanco Arnoldo Goite
Here are all the coordinators for various positions within the minor-league ranks:
Tim Cossins returns for his second season as the organization’s minor league field/catching coordinator following 10 years in the Miami Marlins farm system, including the last six as the minor league catching coordinator.
Derek Johnson returns for his second year as the Cubs minor league pitching coordinator following 11 seasons (2002-12) at Vanderbilt University as the team’s pitching coach, including the last three as the school’s associate head coach/pitching coach.
Anthony Iapoce begins his second season as the organization’s Special Assistant to the GM and Player Development, overseeing the minor league hitting program while contributing to additional projects within the organization.
Jose Flores returns for his second season as minor league infield coordinator, his 14th year as a coach or manager.
Carmelo Martinez enters his 17th season in the Cubs organization, beginning his second stint as the organization’s Latin American Field Coordinator after serving as hitting coordinator for the Cubs Single-A, Rookie League and Dominican League teams last season. Previously, he was Chicago’s Latin American field coordinator for five years (2008-12).
Mike Mason begins his first season as assistant pitching coordinator after spending the previous six years as Triple-A Iowa’s pitching coach.
Doug Jarrow begins his seventh season as Chicago’s minor league strength and conditioning coordinator.
Nick Frangella begins his 11th season with the organization and his first as head minor league athletic training and performance coordinator. He spent the previous two seasons as Triple-A Iowa’s athletic trainer.
Chuck Baughman enters his 15th year with the Cubs organization, his first season as assistant athletic training coordinator.
Rick Tronerud returns for his 19th year with the Cubs and his first as minor league rehab pitching coordinator. He spent the previous 13 seasons with Rookie-League Mesa, serving as the club’s rehab pitching coach. Rey Fuentes begins his second season as Coordinator of Cultural Education, overseeing all educational classes for the Cubs Latin American players.