The Cubs have announced the signing of David Ross to a three-year managerial contract running through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023. Ross, a former hero of the club’s 2016 title run, will be formally introduced at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
The Cubs had previously been said to be in serious consideration of Astros coach Joe Espada for the opening, but it appears that they will turn instead to an in-house option in replacing the departed Joe Maddon. Ross has spent three seasons in the Cubs front office as a special assistant to baseball operations following a fifteen-year year playing career that saw him win World Series titles in both Boston and Chicago.
Though he does not have direct managerial experience to his name, Ross is a well-respected former catcher who has shared dugouts with some of the most revered names in the occupation’s history. As a player, Ross suited up for championship winners Maddon, Bobby Cox, Bruce Bochy, John Farrell, and Terry Francona.
At 42 years of age, Ross becomes the youngest Cubs manager since Jim Riggleman was hired to the post in 1995, and his hiring is in keeping with the wider trend of youthful managers being installed around the game (Ross will not even be the youngest manager hired this afternoon, as reports indicate the Padres have hired 38-year-old Jayce Tingler as their own newly minted skipper).
Following an 84-78 season that saw their postseason hopes crumble down the stretch, the Cubs and manager Joe Maddon parted ways at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Maddon, who helped the club break a 108-year World Series drought with their championship in ’16, has since found employment with the Angels.
I’m building a Backup Catcher Hall of Fame and Ross is in the first class of inductees. Who else should go in?
Rick Dempsey…
I thought about him but he was the main catcher for the Orioles for about a decade.
Qualified for the batting title just 3 times in his career, and most of his time in Baltimore was split with John Lowenstein in an almost precise platoon.
Gary Roenicke was not a catcher, AVinny.
Nor did I say he was one. You are the only person I’ve seen mention Roenicke.
Henry Blanco
Hank White, not in the debut class.
Second or third ballot guy, I would agree.
He played like 12 seasons all as a backup
Kyle Schwarber
Backup catcher parachute did not open. No.
Hector Villanueva
Bouchy
Bochy will get in the big Hall as a manager. No.
That shouldn’t matter. There are quite a few people in the Hall who have gone in as both player and manager or other FO type exec.
Doug Mirabelli is a first ballot backup
He’s in the running.
Bob Uecker. I win!
I must be in the front row!
Paul Bako
Hell no!
Buck Martinez in the broadcaster wing.
Nah that dudes voice is so cringy.
You think so? I think Buck is pretty solid.
Better than idot Hawk or the dude that does the Yankees.
Everyone but arod Jessica Mendoza and chris berman is better than hawk Harrelson.
Buck Martinez is better than hawk. But I just find his voice eerie and cringy
I watched a few Boston red Sox games. Love that they have thick boston accents. And they are real not fake like linda Cohn
Buck – not first ballot.
Todd Zeile
See Kyle Schwarber. Maybe the good looking ballplayer HOF.
Corky Miller
No.
Tim McCarver. Served the same purpose that Ross did with Carlton.
But also started most of his career, where Ross did not.
AVinny is right. Also in the big Hall as broadcaster.
Cuno Berrigan.
Three years. No.
AJ Ellis
Starter for three years. Bad framer. No.
Todd Pratt
In the running.
Joe Ferguson
Yes, 1st ballot! Bonus points for that throw from RF in the ’74 WS.
Doug Mirabelli or Big Sexy Kevin Cash
Okay, Mirabelli’s in. Kevin Cash, really bad hitter. Go sit with Zeile in the handsome HOF.
You have the obvious guys: Ross, Pat Borders, Todd Pratt, Mike Redmond, Tony Eusebio, Rick Dempsey (who only qualified for a batting title 3 times in his 24-year career), Kelly Stinnett, Jeff Reed, Yorvit Torrealba, Henry Blanco, Bob O’Farrell, Hank Gowdy, Doug Mirabelli.
The not so obvious guys: Kirt Manwaring (dude was a defensive God and won a GG the only year he qualified), Mat Treanor (but only because he managed to marry beach volleyball legend Misty May), Moe Berg (who while having a good backup C career in the 1920s-30s, was also an active US spy during WWII and an analyst during Korea and some of the Cold War).
Wasn’t Kirt Manwaring considered a good defensive catcher?
One of the best in the game’s history.
Benito Santiago and that’s just because of how he sat behind the plate
Wasn’t a backup.
Plus he was a steroids guy, allegedly.
eddie perez
Eddie Perez
Bob Uecker, unanimously
Cubs are going to regret firing Maddon when he takes the Angels to the world series in a few years
Boo Hickey
Bob Montgomery has to be in the first class – 10 years, never more than 88 games, all with the Red Sox from ‘70-‘79.
Bob Tillman?
Any Molina brother not named Yadier
bengie was a starter for quite some time. it was a shame that the angels didn’t keep him.
Yup, Jose was the backup of the bunch, and he should get some recognition here.
George Mitterwald aka The Baron
Wellington Castillo – no not him – should be his agent.
It’s safe to say the cubs aren’t rebuilding/reloading any time soon with this hire. Get used to being a .500 team cubs fans.
Get use to still sucking at life, loser.
I’m not at all sure that because one predicts the Cubs a will be a .500 team means that he sucks at life. Ignoring the vitriol in your comment and considering the actual prediction, it’s not unreasonable to think of the Cubs descending to the status of a mediocre team. Most people seem to agree that the club needs help at a number of positions, and even Epstein has said that no player on the roster is untouchable as they seek to improve upon a disappointing season. It remains to be seen what moves the club will make and what the impact of those moves will be on the team’s won-and-loss record.
You must’ve hurt his feelings.
It’s pretty obvious by ChiSoxCity’s comments, the boy has issues. He hovers over every Cub article like a remora to a shark’s belly. And if he reads this, there is no way he doesn’t leave a quasi cute, less than clever, never endingly insecure White Sox fan response.
I am sure you could give him some tips on doing that Bane. You have a wealth of experience at it.
Bane, I could tell you how I’m living, but I don’t want your suicide on my conscience.
Ha, suicide? And how’re you living In your moms basement?
Let’s see what happens with the Bryant hearing first.
103 – 105 wins this year under Ross. Look up my projections for the 2019 season on Trade Rumors. I predicted 84 – 85 wins . Their core is solid. If they dump Russell, Kemp, Descalso, Strop and Quintana they will have room to greatly improve. Go Cubs and congratulations David Ross!
Which one of the teams outside of Pittsburgh in that division will fall to allow the Cubs to pick up extra victories? That is a big leap and quite a bold prediction before we see what the Cubs do this offseason.
103-105 wins? Someone must be serving up the cubbie koolaid ice cold in that fantasy world you live in. Those of us who don’t partake see an aging roster short on elite talent and depth. How can anyone possibly see 20 games over .500 with that roster?
I do suspect they will non-tender Russell this winter, as they should have done last year. Strop is a FA, and I don’t see him returning. Kemp, I like having his speed on the bench, and he’s been an OK defender at 2B and LF in his career. That said, I wouldn’t whine if they dumped him. Quintana? Are you serious? Dude is their #4 starter, and despite having a down season this year, he still rated fairly average as a #4 starter. He’s far more likely to bounce back than Lester is, and he will do so at an unbelievably reasonable rate of $11.5M. You would find it exceptionally difficult to replace his innings for less than that on the FA market.
Thing is, if Maddon actually used analytics to create lineups and BP matchups as he claimed in June and July (but his lineups and BP matchups proved he never did), the team wins closer to 95 game this year. Just on that alone. If he could have managed to keep the team’s moral in shape (as he’s failed to do twice in a row come September), they might have even managed 100 wins. Maddon didn’t alter his usage of the pen until they’d already blown 18 late leads on the season. Even then, he didn’t move forward on using the guys who were proving to be his most sound until mid July to early August. He failed, all season long, to find someone to produce in the leadoff spot. Over and over again, he waited to put a “hot hand” there until that hitter started to show signs of going dead cold. Even when the team brought up a prospect who has “leadoff potential” written all over him, and that kid started off blazing hot… Maddon put him in the #7 hole. If the Cubs had a manager who actually knew how to strategically manage a baseball team… they could be sitting in their 4th straight WS right now. Unfortunately, I don’t think that David Ross is that guy either. I hope he proves me wrong.
I’d bet they’re still more successful this decade than the White Sox.
They will sign Strasburg or Cole so they should be pretty good. Aloso if they let Kopech close instead of start itd do wonders. The White Sox got potential.
Not likely in either case. Cole has always been outspoken on his dislike of the Cubs. As such, I doubt he would consider them over the Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, or Giants (as his agent has also stated he’d like to go back home to California.
As for Strasburg, I tend to doubt he will opt out after this season, considering he will get paid $25M for next year. He could, but I think he’s more likely to opt-out after 2020 if he does so at all. Even if he does opt-out in a few days, I doubt the Cubs will have the luxury tax room to afford him AND make any improvements on the offense. I think the biggest name they may pursue in that regard is Bumgarner, but even he may be out of their price range. I think they would be much more likely to target Alex Wood, Zack Wheeler, Dallas Kuechel, Wade Miley as potentially cheaper low second-tier/high third-tier options.
As is, if they re-sign Castellanos (which I think is somewhat likely), they won’t have much room left to do much at all beyond arbitration raises. I suspect that there will be trades on the horizon, and some many fans will find hard to swallow.
Dylan Cease is a better candidate to close for the Sox. Kopech is a TOR pitcher.
AVinny, he’s not talking about the cubs. He said the Sox could sign either of those two.
Have have about 60mil to spend after arbitration other salaries. That’s enough to re-sign castellanos get 3 bullpen pitchers and a starter like Dallas keuchel.
They have over 30mil off the books with Hamels morrow strop and Cishek all.being free agents.
According to the table I saw, 60 mil is not even close to being right. Only counting guaranteed contracts, the Cubs payroll is sitting at 165 mil. That only includes guaranteed money, that does not include any contracts subject to raises through arbitration. They will be lucky to have 20 mil, let alone 60 mil.
Probably more like $25-$30 million plus a cushion for any potential midseason additions.
Gotcha, I missed that. Still, I doubt the WhiteSox have any real shots there, but I do wonder if they could be real options in the Bumgarner and Keuchel markets. I agree that Kopech could be a TOR guy, and Cease could end up anywhere from a late-inning RP to a mid-rotation guy. And you’ve got Dunning coming up in a couple of years who also looks like a mid-rotation guy at worst (if he can stay healthy).
Honestly, if the Sox bring up Robert and Mandrigal for next season, and find an option at DH… your offense should be pretty sound. Get Kopech and Cease into place with Giolito and a couple of good vet arms like Keuchel and Bumgarner… find some cheap but useful gap filler in the pen… and maybe you make a run at the division.
And Theo has already said that next year’s budget will not be as high as this year’s was. I also doubt they have anywhere near $60M to play with if they spend exactly the same amount as they did this year. Let’s do the actual math.
They already have $136M committed to next season (which includes the obvious Quintana and Rizzo options). That’s just for 10 guys. Arbitration estimates run anywhere from $45-50M. Let’s be smart and go with the higher figure. That brings us to $186M. And we still sit at just 17 players.
Now, let’s add in $3M for Morrow’s buyout, and we’re at $189M. This year’s best estimated salary sat around $225M. That’s roughly $35M to play with… and 8 players remaining to fill out the active roster… and 15 minor leaguers beyond that (assuming that the 27-man proposed active roster does not go into effect next year). If they re-sign Castellanos, there goes around $18-20M of that remaining $35M… that Theo has already told you he won’t be able to spend for next year.
Now, I do think they will save some of that (about $5M in the estimates) by non-tendering Russell. I also think that most of that savings will go toward exercising Graveman’s $3M option.
@ stan lee—you did make me look it up—the Cubs have $111M in guaranteed and a projected $48M in players that are arbitration elibigle (estimated Bryant 18, Baez 9, Schwarber 8, Contreras 4.5 —and includes Russell at 5—which is an easy decision). So round figures is $160 including the arb eligible (all via this site and roster resource)…….so the $60m is much more accurate. What that $160 doesn’t include is salaries for non arb eligible players and required benefit payments which gets it to the $180 range….give or take a couple million. So to match this most recent season $60 mil is a fair take.
@mike127 That’s still not accurate. You’re overlooking the $25.5M that will go to Rizzo and Quintana once their options are exercised. And yes, they will both be exercised.
Yep, things are shaping up nicely. They need to find an RF who can hit for power. Puig and Castellanos are out there. Nick’s not a great defender, and he’s probably getting four years on his next deal, so pass. I guess Puig fits, as long as he shows an ounce of leadership. Reinsdorf could still screw things up by not spending. We all know he could give a #### about winning anything (38 years/one WS appearance).
@ AVinny——-thank you for the clarification—-you are correct—-minus the offset in the option if that route is taken—-so the difference is in the 22-25 range……so they probably have about 35 to play with…..
I appreciate your correction and did go back and read that info even closer!
Considering this decade ends next year, you’re probably right.
I’m not exactly happy about it. I was hoping more for Espada and maybe bringing Ross in at some other coaching role. I really don’t like the idea of a “clubhouse guy” who has never coached beyond a mentor role suddenly becoming the team’s manager.
As for reloading/retooling… whatever Epstein decides to call it this week, we shall see. I suspect that they will try to trade from their IF depth to fill some obvious holes. I think that there’s a pretty decent chance that a couple of the Bote/Happ/Garcia/Giambrone group get traded, as well potential trades of Almora and Carratini. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they traded Bryant if he wins the upcoming grievance case, then pursued Rendon in free agency.
Just like any team, if the bullpen improves and the injury bug doesn’t decimate the team, the Cubs should very competitive next year.
Yaow, so much wrong with that comment. Good luck improving the bullpen and starting staff to a level that the cubs will need to be successful in the post season. It’s over on the northside of Chicago. 1 World Series out of that group, that’s it. Theo made some irreversible FA signings and trades.
Paul Bako
Kirt “What is that” Manwaring
Pat “Messy” Borders
Love it congrats Ross!, Looking forward to seeing you coach. Also it’s gonna help Lester down in games when Ross comes out to the mound to talk to him to settle him down.
Looking forward to the next ball season!
It would be interesting to see the manager come out to the mound to not take a pitcher out. Usually that’s reserved for the pitching coach, but with Lester that could be a possibility
Ross would be better off served relieving Contreras and catch Lester himself. Better option then either Wilson or Caratini.
Considering the fact that Ross hasn’t played in 2 years, and wasn’t exactly great in 2016 (and outright terrible in 2015) outside of a handful of memorable ABs here and there… that would be a pretty dumb idea. Ross is a “clubhouse guy” who does seem very intelligent and knowledgeable about the game. However, he has 0 coaching experience other than playing the mentor for Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant, and (most importantly) Contreras in 2015-16. Perhaps he filled that role while with Boston and Atlanta as well, but it’s still not actual coaching experience. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to bring Ross in as either the bench coach, 1B/3B coach, or some sorto f assistant hitting or strategy coach (let him learn under Espada while providing moral support and mentoring to the guys).
I think that’s a strategy for when they suck, the fans can’t hate on the manager
Oh man, they’re already hating on Ross here.
I personally do not like the move. I think that Espada or Girardi were probably the best choices. However, I was keen on the idea of hiring Ross as a coach in some capacity, and be groomed as a potential future manager. I just don’t like the idea of hiring a manager with 0 coaching experience… and is known to be a bit to chummy with the players. I hope it works out, and this isn’t just some means of hoping the players respond positively… rather than going for the more qualified candidate. Then again, for all we know at this point, Espada and Girardi may have turned the Cubs down.
Kris Bryant to the Yankees for Urshela, Clint Frazier ,Loasaga
GM Cashman is not insane.
The Yankees never do deals like that. They only trade away useless players for All-Stars unless it’s a rental to the cubs.
So a bunch of spare parts for Kris Bryant. Seems legit.
This is surprising, I thought Espada was a better pick. If Ross shows anything that could be mistaken as favoritism towards the players he played with, he’s going to be skewered by the media and fans. Especially if the Cubs are in a close race.
He can’t be any worse than Matheny was though, so there’s that at least.
Bill Plummer
Andy Etchebarren….one of the greatest catcher stories of all time-plus he passed away last week.
Manager roles now a days seem to be about establishing/maintaining organizational culture and applying compliance standards. Gone are the days of assessing players physical, mental or emotional status. Everything is based on historical analytics and players who are beaten down, banged up or just have their swing messed up will be in the line up. It’s been apparent in the playoffs Alvarez/Correa are striking out at 50% clips, but because of analytics they play.
Wasn’t Etchebarren the primary Orioles catcher for most of his career? If so, dunno if he qualifies for this HOF!
I love it—a Cub story thread that the comments have very little to do with the Cubs (and White Sox) and much to do with who can name the crappier catcher. So refreshing to only have to skip a handful of comments.
Awfully sensitive, aren’t you?
As a Nats fan, I love this. Can’t see this working out well so keeping the Cubs spending and out of the playoffs is music to the ears. I just hope they give him an interminable extension a la Preller after his first few years of failure. Good October 31st present.
Because of the Nat’s brilliant management history? One good post season and you’re already full of yourself. You sure have short term memory loss, pal.
Fart noise
Mirabelli definitely! Don’t know of any other professional athlete to get a high speed State Police escort to the ballpark to catch a game that night!
We in Cardinal nation wish to express that we hope this hiring goes almost as well as us hiring Mike Matheny.
Welp, lets see what happens in 2116 cubs? Ws run for sure.
I believe the cub management was saying thank god we got Chapman back in 16 just like the astros management was saying about Ozuna this year. Wonder why no one of them was fired.
John Wockenfuss
I think the cubs will be great to have Ross. He was a legend with Chicago in his times playing. He’s a ’16 champ. He has the experience and he really cares so they will do good this coming up season.