The Cubs have fired highly regarded hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Jaramillo had been with the Cubs since the 2010 season, and his hiring was based on 15 years of success with the Rangers and their high-octane offense. The Cubs brought him in to boost their struggling offense, but nothing really materialized, and the team dismissed him with the team holding just a .689 OPS and 49 homers this season.
During Jaramillo's two and a half year tenure in Chicago, the Cubs offense never improved in the way that the front office imagined when they brought Jaramillo in after the 2009 season. Since 2010, the Cubs hit just 346 homers (in the bottom half of the league) and had a .714 OPS (also in the bottom half of that league). Contrast that to Jaramillo's former team in Texas, which has won two AL pennants since his departure while homering 454 times (fourth in baseball), and OPSing .783 (third best in baseball). Just by looking at the raw stats, it appears that Jaramillo wasn't some sort of magic weapon that the Rangers possesed, but instead a superior level of talent and a ballpark that allows balls to fly out of the park at will.
Jaramillo will be replaced on an interim basis with the Cubs by minor league hitting coordinator James Rowson.
