Update 2:40 p.m.: The Cubs are expected to retain Jose Serra. He was close with Flieta and help sign Starlin Castro/Jorge Soler.
Update 1:10 p.m.: The Cubs have fired baseball information manager Chuck Wasserstorm. His position has been eliminated. He was a 25-year verteran.
Cubs stats analyzer Ari Kaplan, International May of Mystery, also loses his position but is re-hired as an consultant.
The Cubs are also looking for a new position for Scott Nelson, whom was in charge of director of player operations. I’ll update when I find out his new position.
Update 12:50 p.m.: Theo Epstein says assistant general manager is in “good standing”. As that means, Bush is not going anywhere and will remain with the Cubs.
The Chicago Cubs continue to shakeup their front office. The Cubs just announced they have dismissed Vice President, Player Personnel Oneri Flieta.
Cubs’ chairman Tom Ricketts signed Flieta to a 4-year contract extension before the Theo Epstein era began. As that means, Flieta was signed to an extension before Epstein became in charge. A main reason Ricketts signed Flieta to an extension was because the Detroit Tigers were trying to steal him away from the Cubs and would have paid him a higher salary.
The Cubs have been great in Latin America and that’s where Flieta made his name from. However, he was not good at player developement and that may be the main reason he was dismissed.
Flieta is a great guy and a well-respected person around the league. I don’t think he’ll be jobless for long and if the Tigers did have interest in him back in the Winter, I expect them to be his number 1 target.
The front office shakeup started last week as the Cubs promoted Tim Wilken and hired Jarod Madison.
Madison is the new Director of Amateur Scouting and has worked closely with Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod. Back to their days in the San Diego Padres organization. Madison is a great hire and just shows Theo Epstein is all about adding to the ‘dream team’ front office.
Wilken received a contract extension on the promotion and his new job is special assistant to Theo Epstein. The promotion for Wilken does come with a pay raise. Epstein likes Wilken’s abilities and always wanted to keep him around. I’m glad they kept Wilken as he’s a good guy to have in the front office.
Let’s see if any more moves happens to the front office!
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