Cubs set to replace Maddon with Ross as next manager
MLB umpire tweets civil war is coming if Trump is impeached
David Ross, the popular and personable backup catcher from the Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship team, has reportedly been chosen to replace Joe Maddon as the team’s manager - a move that has been expected since the team cut ties with Maddon in late September. The news, first reported Wednesday morning by NBC Sports Chicago, is unlikely to be confirmed by the team until Thursday, owing to Major League Baseball’s preference that teams not make news during the World Series.
Ross, 42, has no previous managing or coaching experience, but was considered a strong leader during a 15-year playing career that culminated with World Series championships in Boston (2013) and Chicago (2016). He has spent the past three seasons as a special assistant in the Cubs’ front office, and has also worked as an analyst for ESPN and appeared on “Dancing With the Stars.”
“I always have greater comfort hiring for roles in which the person has done the role,” Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein told reporters in September. “But there are ways that can be overcome: belief, skills, personal attributes can all outweigh a lack of experience.”
Ross, Epstein said at the time, “is a very attractive candidate, and he’s going to be evaluated on the merits for what he can bring to the table as a major league manager given his skills, given his experiences, given his worldview, given what he knows about winning.”
Among the other known candidates who interviewed for the Cubs job was Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada, who twice traveled to Chicago during off-days of the 2019 postseason to interview. Joe Girardi, Gabe Kapler, Mark Loretta and Will Venable
also reportedly received interviews.
The Cubs decided to part ways with Maddon following the team’s disappointing 2019 season, in which they failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Maddon has since been hired to manage the Los Angeles Angels.
PIRATES: Frank Coonelly’s 12-year run as president of the Pittsburgh Pirates is over after another losing season.
The club announced Wednesday that it is parting ways with Coonelly effective immediately. The team said Coonelly’s replacement will be introduced on Monday.
He helped oversee a brief renaissance that resulted in three straight playoff berths from 2013-15.
Coonelly said he understood that “change was necessary” following a stunning second-half collapse in which the Pirates went 25-48 and plummeted to last in the NL Central. The team dismissed manager Clint Hurdle on the final day of the regular season.
“Frank and I both agreed that it was clear a change in the day-to-day leadership of the club is needed,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “This leadership transition gives us the opportunity to refresh our entire operations.”
The Pirates have fallen off the pace in recent years, finishing below .500 in three of the last four seasons.
MLB: Commissioner Rob Manfred says Major League Baseball will look into a politicized tweet by umpire Rob Drake that referenced a rifle and President Donald Trump.
Drake posted this message to Twitter on Tuesday: “I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020”
The tweet has since been deleted.
Manfred spoke at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night before Game 2 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.
Drake, 50, has worked spring training or regularseason major league games since 1999 and joined the big league staff in 2010. Drake was not assigned to work the postseason this year.