Tag Archives: David Ross

October 24, 2019

Dancing to the Dugout

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The Cubs moved former catcher David Ross from the front office to the dugout:

The Cubs have hired former catcher David Ross as their new manager, the team announced on Thursday. Ross, 42, had been working in the Cubs’ front office and will replace Joe Maddon, who recently agreed to manage the Angels. Astros bench coach Joe Espada had also been a finalist for the Cubs’ job, but the Cubs decided to go with the familiar hand in Ross, who has been long rumored to be Maddon’s replacement. 

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In addition to being a key member of that championship squad, Ross endeared himself to the Cubs’ young core at the time with his leadership skills and clubhouse presence. Given that many of those young players are still in place, Ross’ hiring will surely be popular in the clubhouse. Among his challenges will be managing a number of players who not so long ago were teammates. 

CBSSports.com

When the Cubs won the World Series, it looked like they had a dynasty in the making. As the Astros are also finding out, dynasties are extremely difficult to establish. With the talent Ross inherits, winning during the season should not be a problem. He needs to return a very talented team to the World Series.

Maybe he can also bring some ball room to the ball players.

https://youtu.be/PU8eoNG1LhE?t=131
December 11, 2018

Missing Ross

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The Cubs are looking to sign a veteran leader.  They miss David Ross:


Hoyer stressed that the Cubs have some leaders on the pitching staff — namely veteran Jon Lester. Plus, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo are considered in that category as well, but none necessarily possess the attributes to call out teammates, an area Ross excelled. Hoyer didn’t mention names, but he stressed that an addition with those leadership qualities for 2019 is likely to come from a backup, not a marquee player. He reiterated a winter stance that the Cubs also want Ross around the team more, even though his role isn’t in uniform outside of spring training.

ESPN.com

So why not just sign Ross as a coach and save the roster spot for someone who can better contribute to winning on the field?  I’m sorry, this is the kind of leadership the manager should supply if there is no player on the squad taking up the mantle. 

Maybe Jayson Werth is still available.

January 31, 2017

The Backup Catcher

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Bill James wonders if David Ross set some kind of record for fewest games in a long career.

After floundering around, I finally realized that the way to measure this is to multiply the years by 90 and subtract the games played, so that if a player plays 90 games a year or more he doesn’t show up in this category, but if he has a long career playing LESS than 90 games a year, he will register. 90 games, 100, 80, 110. . .it doesn’t matter; the same guy is going to show up as the leader in this category no matter how you figure it, because he is way ahead of everybody else.

The guy who is going to win this no matter how you figure it is Tom Prince. Tom Prince played 17 seasons in the majors, but only 519 games. He played fewer games than anyone else who played 16 seasons (except pitchers), or 15, or 14. He is the absolute king of this category, the Prince and the King. There was a player in the late 1990s named Mike Frank, which gives us a name string: Mike Frank Thomas Prince Fielder Jones.

The most interesting bit to fall out of the research, however, was this:

Of those 23 players, at least ten are great human interest stories, but anyway, the other thing that struck me about the list is: This does not change over time. Everything in baseball changes over time, right? Rosters are different, playing styles are different. . .everything changes. When you make a list like this, it is almost always dominated by the players from one era, because some era always has a relevant edge.

But not here. The role of a backup catcher is EXACTLY the same now that it was in 1900 and before, basically.

What’s even more interesting is this changed despite teams carrying one less catcher. When teams carried just nine or ten pitchers, two catchers were often on the bench. That allowed managers to pinch hit for catchers as often as they did pitchers, and protected the team against in-game injuries to the backstops.

November 2, 2016 October 20, 2016

Keystone Runs

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In the top of the sixth, Javier Baez singles and steals second, then with one out, Addison Russell homers to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead over the Dodgers. It’s Russell’s second home run in as many games.

David Ross follows with a double, and the Cubs have another threat.

Update: Joe Blanton gets the last two outs, but he is in line for the loss.

October 11, 2016 September 25, 2016

Fond Farewell

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The Cubs fan gave David Ross a rousing ovation as he plays his last regular season game at home. The second time he came up and homered to left to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals in the bottom of the fifth inning. While this probably won’t be his last game at Wrigley this year, it’s a great way to say thank-you to the fans. That was his 10th home run of the season, his first time in double digits since 2007.

May 15, 2016 October 17, 2013

Taking a Beating

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David Ross ran into Alex Avila earlier in the game, and now David just fouled a ball off Avila’s mask. It hit hard enough to take the mask off of Alex’s face. The Tigers may want to get Alex out of the game as they are trailing 4-0 in the top of the fourth.

Update: Alex is out in the bottom of the fourth. Good. It’s not worth having him suffer another concussion.

October 5, 2012