Earlier this season the Chicago Cubs offense was struggling and Milton Bradley was not getting along with hitting coach Gerald Perry. So after considering that Bradley was making a significantly larger chunk of cash than Perry was, the team decided to relieve Perry of his duties and called up Von Joshua from their Triple-A affiliate in Iowa to replace him.Now Joshua didn't do much to salvage Bradley's season in Chicago, but after taking over the job the Cubs did improve from 14th in batting average to sixth in the Majors, and also went from 15th to sixth in runs scored. So as a way of thanking Joshua for the improvements the team announced on Monday they won't be bringing him back next season.
Von Joshua was fired as Cubs hitting coach after Sunday's game and was offered his old job as hitting coach at Triple-A Iowa.
"I told him it wasn't anything that I was upset with him," general manager Jim Hendry said. "He didn't do anything wrong. But when you come up from the system in the middle of the year, if things don't make significant differences in improvement, then in my opinion we need to do something."
Yes, except the Cubs did improve, so it's obvious that there are other reasons for the team making this move.
One of which is that considering the team will do everything to rid itself of Milton Bradley's presence in 2010, maybe they want to get rid of Joshua too so he doesn't serve as a reminder. The more likely reason is that it's because they plan on replacing Joshua with Ryne Sandberg.
The same Sandberg who has spent the last few seasons managing in the Cubs minor-league system and has openly lobbied to take over for Lou Piniella when he decides to leave the Cubs. If the Cubs do give the job to Sandberg he'd be able to spend a season with the team before taking over.
Piniella has said he plans on leaving after his contract expires next season.
