According to MLB.com beat writer Brian McTaggart, the Cubs will hire Houston Astros bullpen coach Jamie Quirk to be Dale Sveum’s bench coach. Quirk is not a name we have heard and just came out of no where. Especially since he was with the 106 loss Astros. But he probably did not have much to do with their failure. He’s not the one who destroyed the roster and had no talent on the team…blame Ed Wade, who was actually just fired.
Jamie Quirk is 57 years old and started coaching in 1994. He was the Royals bullpen coach and later was their bench coach. After he left the Royals, he joined the Colorado Rockies as their bench coach for 6 years (2003-2008). Finally, Quirk has been with the Astros the past 2 seasons as their professional scout (2009) and their bullpen coach.
So…Quirk does have experience as a bench coach. That’s good.
What does that mean for Pat Listach? He was the Cubs bench coach. He’s expected to stay on as he’s good friends with Dale Sveum. It looks like it will be a new role on the team. Right now the Cubs need a pitching coach, 1st and 3rd base coach. We could see the coaching staff announce before the Winter Meetings (Monday, December 5th).
With all the news breaking about Fielder, Pujols and Soriano…this is minor news that I thought I would pass by/share.