The Cubs dismissed third base coach Pat Listach after Wednesday’s game, and were still evaluating interim hitting coach James Rowson’s status. The rest of manager Dale Sveum’s coaching staff will return in 2013. Listach, 45, was in his second season in his second stint with the Cubs. He was a coach or manager in the team’s Minor League system from 2000-08 before serving as the Nationals third base coach from 2009-10. Listach was the Cubs’ infield coach, and worked with second baseman Darwin Barney, who compiled a 141-game errorless streak.
“This is hard for me,” Barney said after getting the news. “He was one of the first people who really saw what I had and believed in it and voiced his opinion for me a couple years back. It’s tough. He’s going to be fine, he’s got a place in baseball and he’ll find work somewhere for sure. It’s hard to see him go. We spent a lot of time together preparing for these games and putting together the season I had defensively.
“Whenever I try to give him credit, he tells me, ‘It wasn’t me, it was all you. Don’t think I did anything,’” Barney said. “The reality is, he did [help]. He turned me onto a lot of different ideas and different things. It’s just sad, it’s sad to see him go.”
Rowson was promoted from Minor League hitting coordinator to replace veteran hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo in May. The Cubs batted .240 this season, ahead of only the Astros in the National League.
