Is the Cubs Hiring David Ross the Right Thing to do?

So, I have admittedly been on David Ross to become the next Chicago Cubs manager like white on rice. But, honestly, is it the right thing to do for the franchise? Like seriously?

Let’s forget about the recent history with the Cubs. The 2016 World Series. The d!ck bumping after big homers. The carrying off the field after Game 7. The dancing on Saturday Night Live. The Instagram photos. The cute and cuddly grandpa persona.

Let’s also forget Ross’s current job. The countless hours sitting beside Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. The internal conversations about current big league players, minor leaguers, free agents, draftees. Let’s forget about the time he’s spent in advanced scouting, player meetings, spring training coaching sessions, and everything else he’s been involved with.

If we ignored that – would the Cubs even be calling Ross to interview, let alone be one of the finalists for the managerial job? Would we even be questioning if he or Jos Espada would be leading this whole managerial search?

Perhaps. From an earlier article on Ross, I covered how his quick rise to becoming a managerial candidate, wasn’t so quick. Back in 2008, the Boston Red Sox acquired the catcher after his release from the Cincinnati Reds. After that season, Theo had a heart-to-heart with Ross which shifted Ross’s purpose in baseball and created a manager in waiting.

Patrick Mooney, from The Athletic (paid subscription), further added to the point I began.

“By the time the playoffs came around, he was respected enough that we invited him into our advance scouting meetings,” Theo Epstein wrote in the foreword to “Teammate,” Ross’ New York Times bestselling memoir. “Again, I didn’t expect much from David. These are big, important meetings with the front office, manager Terry Francona and the whole coaching staff. Typically, advance scout Dana LeVangie and Varitek — both expert in this role — would take the lead breaking down opposing hitters, and pitching coach John Farrell, Tito, and a few of us in the front office would chime in.

“The third-string catcher was not usually present, let alone vocal,” Epstein wrote. “Except for David. He spoke up early and often, in a strong and authoritative voice, making insightful points about every opposing hitter. He wasn’t afraid to disagree, even with Varitek, and quickly won over the room. By the third or fourth hitter we discussed, others were deferring to Ross, the backup’s backup who up until the last six weeks had spent his entire career in the other league.”

Excerpt from Teammate, Ross’ New York Times bestselling book you can pick it up for $6.99 here.

Here was the backup to the backup, and he was running the room. A room filled with Theo, future managers, and general managers, and current Red Sox manager, Terry Francona. It was during this playoff run in which Theo told Hoyer, “We should keep an eye on him…might make a good scout or coach when he’s done playing.”

Fast-forward seven years later and the Cubs brought Ross on. While it seemed like it was solely because of Jon Lester, and he might have played a big role, but there were many other circumstances at play.

Anthony Rizzo was a big factor in him coming to Chicago. After meeting with him Rizzo believed he was what the team needed.

“He is exactly what we needed to bring everything together,” Rizzo said.

But that same front office duo were also pulling strings. They also knew this young team needed discipline from within the clubhouse, they needed someone who has been there and has done it and will be there to joke around but also push them to be better.

I sense a lot of fans don’t understand how important the joking around and fun aspect of the game actually is. But I know they don’t fully understand that Ross will lock it up when there are teaching moments and times when accountability is called for. He has shown this countless times over his playing career. He’s built a career and reputation on accountability, and only seeing the joking around, cuddly, friend of the players just shows a complete and utter lack of understanding who he is and what he’s about.

But this is all from a perspective of knowing who he is and what he is about. If all of this wasn’t known, if Theo never picked him up in Boston, if his career ended after he was cut in Cincinnati – would he even be a serious option?

I don’t know if anyone can actually answer that question, but we know all of this. Theo and Jed know all of this. Ross is a motivator, he is the guy that can break the tension, he is the guy that can kick you in the butt, and he is the guy that can pick you up when you are down. We know this because he’s done this, countless times over the course of a 15-year career.

Theo and Jed, above anyone else in baseball, know how he is behind the scenes. They’ve worked with him for the past three years, closely. They worked with him in 2008, closely. They know he can gameplan. They know he knows the game. They understand how he can potentially contribute to a team, every day from the top step of a dugout.

So yeah, we don’t know if Ross will be good as a manager or not. We don’t know if someone like Joe Espada, or Joe Girardi, or Mark Loretta will go on to have better managerial careers. But we also don’t know all the reasons he’s been marked as a future manager for years. We don’t know his real contributions to a clubhouse. We don’t know how he’s helped the team prepare pregame. We don’t know what he’s been doing over the last three years. We… we just don’t know.

This is what baffles me when people are hell-bent against Ross. The fact is, they have no idea how he will be. The only partially real issue some can have is experience. But, not only has his at least the last 11 years provided experience, but working side-by-side with the Cubs front office certainly has shown them that he’s a qualified candidate.

Sure, Espada has received multiple interviews, Girardi sat in the offices for eight-hours, Mark Loretta was the first front-runner, Gabe Kapler may have recent management experience, and Will Venable has been very highly respected for years. This should start telling everyone something – hiring David Ross IS the right thing to do.