There has been a lot of questions surrounding the future of Chicago Cubs manager, Joe Maddon. First there was the firing of Chili Davis, who was seen as a “Maddon guy.” Now there are rumors that the Cubs are trying to find a creative way for Jim Hickey to go away (another Maddon guy). The Cubs had already come out saying the team would not seek an extension, thus making Joe a lame duck manager in 2019.
In, what seemed to be an innocent conversation with Theo Epstein and reporters in Carlsbad, Ca as the GM meetings were wrapping up, there was an interesting exchange. Sahadev Sharma caught that interaction, you can read more on The Athletic (paywall, but I recommend subscribing).
What is interesting is, in the same article, Sharma spoke with several other baseball executives:
“While trying to get an idea of how others around baseball viewed the situation, numerous rival executives suggested that the writing was on the wall for Maddon and unless he was able to take the Cubs on another World Series run, his return beyond 2019 seemed genuinely unlikely. A quick poll of those executives led to a consensus on who would eventually replace Maddon: David Ross.”
This is an interesting tidbit since there have been rumblings here locally that there can be higher involvement from Ross around the team, and could in fact become a managerial-type of guy when he so chooses. This was the same sentiment that Sharma received from the rival execs he polled, they not only believe that Ross is a “feel-good” option, but he is the right guy at the right time for the Cubs.
Theo continues to drive home the fact that their decision to not float an extension to Maddon is not punitive, which by all accounts seems accurate. But perhaps, just perhaps the decision to not offer Maddon an extension is because they know Ross would be very capable, and after spending three seasons away from the daily grind, he might be ready to jump back into the fold full time.
After the 2017 season, Dave Martinez left the Cubs bench coach role to become the manager of the Washington Nationals. At that time the Cubs had reached out to the World Series hero to explore his interest in possibly filling that spot, or taking another role with the club. At the time, Ross thought it would be hard to jump into coaching at that point in his retirement.
“Hard to see me jumping back in,” Ross told the Chicago Tribune. “Was a little busy this year and never got real time off.”
The Cubs would later promote Brandon Hyde to the position, but have continuously asked Ross to play some role in this team.
Ross played a huge role with the 2015 and 2016 Chicago Cubs teams. He wasn’t there because of his offensive ability, and while defensively he was tremendous, he was there to be a veteran leader. Multiple Cubs have gone on record in saying how much Ross pushed them, demanded excellence, and when they achieved excellence – asked more from them. It didn’t matter who that player was, Ross told them, and showed them how to achieve a high-level of play at the Major League level. Take the words from Anthony Rizzo, the man who would eventually fill the leadership shoes that Ross left after the 2016 season.
It is starting to seem like the writing is on the wall for Maddon. The first sign might have been the Davis firing, but the next one should have been when Theo told the world that he expects Maddon to change the way he runs a clubhouse. Theo wants Maddon to be more hands on, to be much more involved in the daily interactions with the players. Maddon has always trusted his coaching staff to be the ones to do these things for him, similarly to the pecking order in anyone’s office, a director might need something to get done, and he asks his direct reports with spread that message among their people. That is how Maddon ran the Cubs. He saw something that needed to be changed, told his coaches, and expected them to role those changes out to the players. Maddon had mentioned on a couple of occasions that he doesn’t interact much with players on a one-on-one basis. He would find a couple of road trips every season where he would take two or three guys out for dinner to get to know them and really find out what makes them tick.
There’s nothing wrong with that style of managing a team, it was very successful in Chicago and throughout Maddon’s career. Theo is just demanding more, because with the resources invested into this team, and the talent of the roster – they should be giving much, much more. It sounds like Theo is looking for a guy that has meaningful interactions, personally, with every player that walks into that clubhouse. A guy that will personally tell every player exactly where they stand, and exactly what they need to do to continue to be successful, or to raise their ability.
It sounds like the type of guy Theo wants is Ross.
Of course your question, or your comment will be that Ross doesn’t have experience. If there was ever a sport where experience at a managerial level doesn’t matter, that sport is baseball. Look at the last two World Series championship managers, Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch. Cora never managed a team before, and his only coaching experience was a single season as bench coach for the Houston Astros (2017). Hinch had some experience as the manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but was an interim manager his first season and was let go mid-year in 2010.
Coincidently, the Diamondbacks won their only World Series title with Bob Brenly at the helm, his first year as manager.
While there’s no telling what role the Cubs or Theo wants Ross to play in 2019, having him around the club, just as another reminder of what it takes to be great in this league will be huge. Then, if it comes to it, Ross will be just fine if the Cubs tap his shoulder in 2020. It would actually be fun to watch him coach this group of guys.
