Cubs Name Minor League Coaches

The 2011 minor league coaching staffs for all the teams in the Cubs organization have been set. Here is the full list.


Coordinators
Field- Dave Bialas, returning for 10th year

Pitching- Former Smokies pitching coach, promoted to take over for Mike Mason

Hitting- Tom Beyers, former Smokies hitting coach, promoted to take over for Dave Keller, who joins Quade's staff

Infield- Franklin Font, entering his third season

Latin American Field Coordinator- Carmelo Martinez, 4th season

Catching- Marty Pevey, second season

Outfield/Base running- Lee Tinsley, first year. Tinsley spent five years in the big leagues and has been the first base coach for the Seattle Mariners for the past two seasons.

Strength/Conditioning- Doug Jarrow, set for his fourth year in his current position. He served in the same role for the Dodgers for five seasons before coming to the Cubs.

Athletic Training Coordinator- Justin Sharpe, returning for the seventh straight year

Rehab Coordinator- Chuck Baughman, sixth season in current position, 11th with the organization overall

Triple-A Iowa Cubs
Manager- Bill Dancy, will take of the I-Cubs after being named the 2010 Southern League Manager of the Year

Pitching Coach- Mike Mason, the ex-Cubs player is back for his fourth season

Hitting Coach- Von Joshua, has been in Iowa for the last six years besides a stint as the big league hitting coach during the 2009 season

Double-A Tennessee Smokies
Manager- Brian Harper, the Cubs welcome a new skipper to the organization. Harper led the Single-A San Jose Giants to the California League title this past season. He played in over 1,000 games as a big league catcher for seven different clubs.

Pitching Coach- Marty Mason, joins Harper's staff after spending 25 years in the Cardinals system. He was on the big league staff in St. Louis for 11 years.

Hitting Coach- Mariano Duncan, another newcomer, has spent five years as the Dodgers first base coach and 12 years as a big league infielder.

Class-A Advanced Daytona Cubs
Manager- Buddy Bailey returns for his third year. Buddy is has been a minor league skipper for 22 years, five in the organization.

Pitching Coach- Tom Pratt, also heading into his third year in Daytona.

Hitting Coach- Barbaro Garbey, has been promoted from Peoria to Daytona for the 2011 season.

Class-A Peoria Chiefs
Manager- Casey Kopitzke, set for his third year in the Chicago chain and his second in Peoria. Kopitzke was the manager of the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League last month.

Pitching Coach- Jeff Fassero, entering his second year in the organization and his first on the Chiefs staff. Fassero, a former big leaguer, was the pitching coach of the Boise Hawks this past season.

Hitting Coach- Ricardo Medina, has served on the staffs of several short season teams in the system over the past few years. Medina will begin his first year with a team that plays a "full season".

Class-A Short Season Boise Hawks
Manager- Mark Johnson, after a long playing career in baseball, Johnson hangs up the cleats and starts a coaching career. He has served as a player/coach at Iowa for a few years and will now be the manager of the Boise Hawks.

Pitching Coach- David Rosario, bumped down a notch after coaching at Peoria in 2010.

Hitting Coach- Desi Wilson, will begin his fourth season in the organization and his first with the Hawks.

Rookie Ball
Mesa Manager- Juan Cabrera
Mesa Pitching Coach- Rick Tronerud
Mesa Hitting Coach- Jason Dubois, begins his coaching career after a long playing career that included several stints in the Cubs organization and one on the big league roster
Mesa Assistant- Frank Castillo
DSL #1 Manager- Manuel Callado
DSL #1 Pitching Coach- Leo Hernandez
DSL #1 Hitting Coach- Alberto Garcia
DSL #2 Manager- Yudith Ozorio
DSL #2 Pitching Coach- Anderson Tavares
DSL #2 Hitting Coaches- Leo Perez and Franklin Blanco

That's it for now, but there are many more posts to come this weekend and throughout the next few weeks.

Mesa it Is!! (Spring Training Talk and More)

It is all but settled that Chicago Cubs Spring Training will remain in the valley of the sun for years to come. The team intends to keep their Spring Training facilities in Mesa, Arizona pending rather than move to Naples, Florida after the current contract with Mesa. The decision to stay is pending a vote by the Mesa city council, which will take place Monday night to improve the team's Cactus League facility.

David Kaplan and the Chicago Tribune reported this story first today, then Bruce Levine added that the new facilities will most likely be 7-8 miles east of the current Cub spring home, HoHoKam Park. If Arizona cannot come up with the money for this project, the Cubs are expected to resume talks with Naples. The new state of the art stadium will include a Wrigleyville atmosphere and and a 15,000-18,000 capacity, which would make it the largest Spring Training park.

The East Valley Tribune's full coverage.

While we're talking about Cubs' Spring Training, let's take a look at WGN Radio's 2010 Spring Training broadcast schedule. Cubs Central Pregame starts 35 minutes prior the the first pitch of each game, and all times are central:

• Thursday March 4 VS Oakland 2:05
• Saturday March 6 VS White Sox 2:05
• Tuesday March 9 VS Milwaukee 2:05
• Tuesday March 16 VS Texas 3:05
• Friday March 19 @White Sox 3:05
• Saturday March 20 VS Kansas City 3:05
• Sunday March 21 @Reds 3:05
• Friday March 26 VS Oakland 3:05
• Saturday March 27 VS San Diego 3:05
• Thursday April 1 VS Rockies 3:05
• Saturday April 3 @Arizona @Chase Field 3:10

According to Bruce Miles, the Cubs have signed catcher Mark Johnson and third baseman Scott McClain to minor league deals with invites to Spring Training. Johnson was in Cubs' Spring Training last year, and ended up playing in 22 games at AAA Iowa. Mark was drafted by the White Sox organization and has spent time in the big leagues. This won't be the first trip to Mesa for McClain either. Scott has been in Spring Training with the Cubs before, and he saw 13 games with them during the 2005 regular season, going 2-14. After playing in the Giants organization for a few years, he played in Japan for most of '09. As a backup third baseman, he could make the club if he plays well in camp.

More Rumor Updates:

• Paul Sullivan reports that the Cubs have an eye on free agent outfielder Jonny Gomes.
• The Sun-Times says that they've contacted Gomes.
• The Cubs are also interested in Jermaine Dye, Reed Johnson, and Rick Ankiel and Xavier Nady.
• The Padres and Blue Jays are dangling relievers that the Cubs have interest in. Levine says that the Padres might talk to the Cubs about closer Heath Bell, while Luke Gregorson and Blue Jay Jason Frasor have also been discussed.

Please vote on our new poll on the right sidebar (yes, finally it's up!). We're close to finishing off our Cubs' all decade team, so we encourage everyone to vote on the best Cub closers of the last decade. I included all guys that had 5 or more saves as choices. Thanks to everyone who voted on the last poll.

Speaking of the right sidebar, notice that our countdown has been change from the Cubs Convention, to the day Pitchers and Catchers report. As of now, the start of the baseball season is just 27 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes and 20 seconds away- 19, 18, 17...

Baseball is right around the corner!