The Cubs’ trade deadline may have been quiet after shipping out a trio of relievers, but the biggest news of the month comes via a coaching change. Chicago has relieved field manager Derrek Lee of duties effective immediately and hired Raúl Ibañez to lead the team for the remainder of the season.
“We appreciate Derrek’s selfless dedication to this organization for the past ten seasons,” GM Jabs said. “We wish him the best of luck.”
Ibañez managed the rookie league Mesa Cubs to a 30-38 record in 2016 before joining the Miami Marlins organization. He worked his way up the managerial ladder in the minors before serving as the big league bench coach in 2022. The Marlins lost 101 games that year and Ibañez has been unemployed since.
“I was surprised to get the phone call, if I’m being honest,” Ibañez said during his introductory press conference. “I know there are only a few months left of the season but I’m ready to give it my all and prove I can manage at this level.”
The former Cubs All-Star first baseman Lee told reporters he was “floored” by the change.
“Listen, this organization gave me my first chance in the dugout, and for that I’m still thankful,” Lee said. “But at the same time, man, that’s tough business.”
After coaching in the minors for the Cubs in 2015-17, Lee was named interim manager in Chicago in late September 2017, replacing John Farrell at the tail end of a chase for the playoffs. He managed the Cubs to a 6-3 record in that stretch but they ultimately missed the postseason.
Lee failed to shake the “interim” label that off-season and instead served as bench coach over the next six years for two different managers: Mitsuo Kawakami (2018-2020) and the return of John Farrell (2021-2023). Lee was promoted this past off-season but his tenure at the helm falls short of the full 162.
“I rode the busses with the Tennessee Smokies,” Lee continued. “I helped Kawakami with the scouting reports. I held the lineup card at the end of the blowouts after Farrell got tossed.
“I believe I earned this opportunity, and I didn’t even get to see it through for a full season. And after six years that really sucks.”
Publicly, GM Jabs was nothing but complimentary of Lee (a personal favorite of his during #25’s playing days), simply stating it was “time for a change.” But anonymous sources tell a story of bubbling frustration in the front office.
The Cubs have won a paltry six games in July after posting respectable numbers in May and June. Jabs and Lee allegedly butted heads over how best to utilize rookie Sammy Siani as well as the lead-off spot on the lineup card in recent weeks. A severe breakdown in communication over an offered contract extension, plus a sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals were reportedly the final straw.
“I don’t know where you’re getting that,” Lee said in response to the aforementioned reports. “We’ve got a lot of young kids in the dugout and it takes time to coach them – of course there are going to be growing pains. And as far as a contract extension, I told them I had no plans to leave. We were building something here, but it’s over now, I guess.”
Raúl Ibañez is the seventh managerial change made by Chicago during the Jabs era and represents the third mid-season switch:
- Dale Sveum, incumbent (2012, 2013, 89 games in 2014)
- Rich Renteria (73 games in 2014)
- John Farrell (2015, 2016, 153 games in 2017)
- Derrek Lee (9 games in 2017)
- Mitsuo Kawakami (2018, 2019, 2020)
- John Farrell, again (2021, 2022, 2023)
- Derrek Lee, again (110 games in 2024)
- Raúl Ibañez (remainder of 2024 to ???)
It remains to be seen if Ibañez will be retained heading into 2025. So why make this change now? Perhaps this quote overheard on Chicago talk radio frames the situation best: “Most GMs don’t get the chance to work with six different managers. Time will tell if this peculiar move was the right one.”