The Cubs have made a clear move to keep Craig Counsell’s coaching group intact, and it helped block the Mets from poaching one of Chicago’s most valued voices.
John Mallee, the Cubs’ assistant hitting coach, had drawn interest from New York for its open hitting coach job. But according to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and Will Sammon, Mallee withdrew his name from consideration after the Cubs reworked his contract. The new deal was not detailed, but it was enough to keep him from even talking with the Mets this offseason.
That matters because Mallee is no ordinary staffer in Chicago. This is his second stint with the Cubs’ big-league club, and his relationship with Pete Crow-Armstrong has become one of the most important behind-the-scenes pieces of the lineup’s progress. Crow-Armstrong’s growth over the last year, especially in plate discipline, has made Mallee an obvious target for another club looking to add a hitter-friendly voice.
Crow-Armstrong made that bond pretty clear when he spoke to the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro at season’s end, calling Mallee his "baseball dad".
“That’s my baseball dad in a sense, somebody knowing you when it comes to this kind of thing,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I mean, you really need it.
We speak the same language. I’m lucky that I don’t have to get to know him again.
He knows what he’s getting into when it’s a game like that, and he knows that I always feel like there’s something we’ve got to f−−−−−− figure out. We’ve got to do it now, and he’s always down for the challenge.
That kind of trust explains why the Cubs moved to keep Mallee in place. Even if Crow-Armstrong can’t duplicate this season’s production, Chicago clearly values having a familiar, steady voice helping guide him. Mallee reportedly passed on a promotion to stay put, which says plenty about the connection he’s built not just with Crow-Armstrong, but with the team around him.
The larger picture also has a future-facing feel to it. 2027, assuming there’s a semi-regular season, is shaping up as a big year for Counsell and his staff. Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins are in a similar spot, and if the Cubs stumble late in the regular season and playoffs again, as they have over the last two years, change could be coming.
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