The Cubs are putting the finishing touches on their adjusted baseball operations structure, hiring former Astros assistant hitting coach Jason Kanzler as director of player development and promoting Ryan Otero to director of pitching, sources confirmed Monday.
Kanzler has spent the last five years with the Astros, serving as a minor-league hitting coach and coordinator for the first three, and as a member of Dusty Baker’s major-league staff the next two. Baker announced his retirement after the 2023 season.
Otero has risen in the Cubs organization over the last six years, from player development assistant, though the research and development department, to assistant director of pitching. He worked closely with Craig Breslow, who helped overhaul the Cubs’ pitching development.
Since Breslow left earlier this offseason to become the Red Sox’ chief baseball officer, the Cubs have made subtle shifts in their baseball operations setup. Breslow served as both an assistant general manager and the senior vice president of pitching, leaving a number of holes to be filled.
The Cubs promoted Jared Banner from vice president of player development to AGM. Banner will continue to be involved in player development, but Kanzler fills the farm director role he vacated. Otero takes over leadership of the pitching department. The Cubs also promoted Meghan Jones from baseball operations director to VP of baseball strategy, and she made history as the first woman to serve as a Cubs baseball operations VP .
Though the Cubs have solidified their front office leadership and Craig Counsell’s coaching staff, they have yet to acquire any player on a major-league deal this offseason. There’s still about a month and a half until spring training – and the team could continue to add even after players report to Mesa, Arizona. But the Cubs have several holes they’ll have to fill to have a good shot at making the playoffs for the first time since the shortened 2020 season.
