Heartbreak: Chicago Cubs head coach David Ross has announced his departure due to…
Not just this year but in the past as well, a number of BCB readers have suggested that in addition to rating the players at midseason, I ought to rate the manager and coaching staff.
To be honest, I simply don’t know enough about most of the coaching staff to give them a grade. How is hitting coach Dustin Kelly doing? As for you, it’s probably a good thing that you don’t hear much about him. Hitting coaches typically receive too much criticism when teams hit poorly and too little recognition when they hit well. Following the Yankees’ defeat to the Cubs on Sunday, hitting coach Dillon Lawson was let go. Lawson didn’t truly do anything wrong that couldn’t have been resolved with a healthy Judge Aaron for the previous month.
I therefore can’t get too worked up about the coaches in general.
Yes, I do have opinions about manager David Ross, so allow me to express them.
It was generally believed that Ross would succeed Joe Maddon as Cubs manager while Ross was a player. Naturally, Ross’s playing career came to an end in 2016 with a World Series championship. At the time, there were rumors that Maddon might sign a contract extension beyond his initial five years and that Ross might start working as a coach under Maddon after retirement.
Naturally, that did not occur. Under Maddon, the Cubs only made it to the postseason twice more, and his contract was not extended after 2019. When Theo Epstein was still in charge of the front office, interviews There were a few contenders, but it was obvious that Ross was their man and that the rest was just window dressing. Since his first playing stint in Boston in 2008, Ross has had a relationship with both Theo and Jed Hoyer. Ross was signed by Theo’s front office in late August 2008 after being released by the Reds, so his time there was only temporary. However, his familiarity with pitchers and players in the league impressed them. That’s why Ross was brought back by Boston management in 2013, and that year he helped them win a World Series.
Following his retirement, Ross was brought on by the Cubs as a special assistant in Theo’s front office, and he also performed some scouting work for them in his spare time.
