Chicago Cubs: Shiraz Rehman Hired as Assistant to the General Manager

Shiraz Rehman was brought in with little fanfare this week, having been hired as the Assistant to the General Manager for the Chicago Cubs. His previous post was with the Arizona Diamondbacks as Director of Player Personnel. This hire is just as good as bringing in Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod.

Epstein is developing a brain trust other front offices won't be able to touch. With a financial background, Rehman brings an interesting voice of reason to the Cubs fellow executives, especially when his role with the Diamondbacks was focused solely on roster management, something the Cubs haven't been very good at. He also worked for the Red Sox in 2005, so Epstein knows his worth.

Bringing Rehman in with little fanfare was done for a reason, when you review what his responsibilities were with Arizona, per his MIT Sloan Conference bio,

"Rehman’s primary responsibilities are with the Major League team, assisting in the maintenance of the club’s 40-man roster, providing financial and statistical analysis to support trade and player evaluation, and overseeing all transactions and Major League rules interpretation and compliance. He plays a key role in the arbitration process, contract structuring and negotiations, and oversees baseball analysis efforts for the team."

Pretty important stuff, right? With the Winter Meetings to begin in December, now is a good time to invest in an executive who did all of those things on a team that went to the postseason this year.

Cubs fans won't be hearing Shiraz Rehman's name much during the season, but his hiring should get fans as excited as the Theo Epstein hire did.

Rehman is the newest piece to the front office puzzle and perhaps the most important.