The Chicago Cubs' front office has been in flux for nearly a year now, but the changes keep coming. On Wednesday, the team fired vice president of player personnel Oneri Fleita after ten months under new president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, as the club announced.
Last year, Fleita signed a four-year contract extension with the Cubs before Epstein's hiring, but there was always speculation that Theo would prefer to install his own guys. Having already brought in former Padres GM Jed Hoyer and Red Sox scouting guru Jason McLeod, Fleita stood out as a key decision-maker from the Jim Hendry era.
Fleita joined the Cubs in 1995 and became one of the key assistants under Hendry, the Cubs' previous GM. With Epstein making constant changes to his team, including the recent hiring of Jaron Madison as scouting director and the promotion of Tim Wilken to special assistant, Fleita's departure shouldn't be considered a major surprise.
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