Ross, Theo, and Jed just Picking Up Starbucks. Absolutely Nothing to See Here
David Ross met with Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer today to discuss the manager’s position. This was a much shorter conversation that the meeting the three had with Joe Girardi yesterday, but I wouldn’t read too much into that.
David Ross gets an all-expenses-paid trip to Starbucks during Thursday’s interview for the Cubs manager job. pic.twitter.com/X2H7RwLhMT
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) October 11, 2019
See, while Ross’s interview was only about four hours long today, honestly he’s been in the interview process since January 2017. This is when Theo and Jed hired Ross as a special assistant to baseball operations.
The next season, Ross spent time with the club in Spring Training, learned a bit about how the front office works, and seeing the game from a different lens. Then, yes, there was all that time he spent Dancing With The Stars…
But he when he wasn’t cutting rugs or broadcasting for ESPN, Ross was in the back offices learning from Theo and Jed. Then, there was a shift at some point in 2018. In 2018 there were rumors that the relationship between Joe Maddon and the front office soured. Theo and Jed felt that it was becoming too much like the Joe-Show, and Maddon felt that the front office was unjustly criticizing a World Champion manager.
It was during that shift in the relationship that Ross was around the Cubs team more. He was in the executive box on game days, and he was constantly next to and learning from Theo and Jed.
It seemed that Ross, whenever he didn’t have ESPN responsibilities, was right there by Theo’s side.
See, he wasn’t getting a token interview, he’s not inexperienced, he’s been getting on-the-job training for the past three years and that training ramped up tenfold in 2019. This is why he is the favorite to land the job by media members that are around the team daily.
When Ross was asked about the interview, he mentioned that it was “good” and offered this nugget when asked about being the favorite.
“I don’t know what a lot of people mean.”
Whether he is downplaying it, or honestly doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, Ross has to understand that he has a legitimate chance of grabbing this job. While the Cubs will interview Joe Espada and Carlos Beltran, and maybe a few more, Ross likely has an edge simply because he knows what this organization does well and what warts need to be addressed.
More importantly, he already has the respect of the front office and clubhouse and whatever changes need to be implemented, he will have 100% support across the board.
