Cubs Part Ways With Third Base Coach Willie Harris

By: Jacob Zanolla

Bruce Levine announced on Friday morning that the Cubs have parted ways with third base coach Willie Harris, leaving them with yet another position that will need to be filled before next season. They let go of Mike Napoli earlier this month, which I saw as an opportunity for him to look into other jobs. However, with Harris leaving too, there is reasonable cause to suspect the Cubs really did notice the outs on the bases, leading to them making these changes.

It could also be some of both, with the front office and Counsell realizing that respectfully letting them pursue other opportunities is better than worrying about letting them go. Players seemed to love both of them, but that doesn’t really matter if you can’t get results.

Among the many problems involving the 2024 Cubs team, one of them was poor baserunning. Whether it was poor jumps to steal second, trying top swipe a base when it made absolutely no sense, or sending a runner home just to have them gunned down by 20 feet, no one was surprised when a player made a mistake on the basepaths.

Craig Counsell now has an opening on both sides of the diamond for base coaches, a bullpen position, as well as an assistant hitting coach that needs to be filled. Other than these jobs, I would assume no other major positions will change (other than possible Dan Kantrovitz, but let’s hope he stays).

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