As David Ross and the Cubs look to assemble the first-year manager's coaching/support staff for 2020, it appears that two members of Joe Maddon's Cubs staff will join him in Los Angeles.
According to WSCR's Bruce Levine, third base coach Brian Butterfield and strength and conditioning coach Tim Buss will follow Maddon to the Angels.
Butterfield joined the Cubs as third base coach in 2018 after holding the same title with the Red Sox from 2013-17. He succeeded Gary Jones, who held the job from 2014-17 and was a holdover from the Cubs coaching staff before Maddon arrived.
The 61-year-old Butterfield is a popular figure, but he battled vertigo in 2019 and missed time as a result. Plus, his main focal points are infield defense and baserunning, two areas where the Cubs struggled this past season.
This isn't to say Butterfield is entirely responsible for those struggles. But between that and his health, the Cubs may have looked to go in a different direction with Ross taking over as manager anyhow.
Buss' departure comes as somewhat of a surprise, as he had been the Cubs strength and conditioning coach since 2001. His depature represents a major shift in the organization's philosophy and comes less than a year after the Cubs named Adam Beard as director of high performance. Beard oversees the Cubs' strength/conditioning, nutrition, medical/athletic training, sports science and mental skills departments.
MLB
Butterfield and Buss aren't Maddon's only former Cubs staffers joining him in Los Angeles. John Mallee — Cubs hitting coach from 2015-17 — is set to become Maddon's assistant hitting coach with the Halos.
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