Chicago Cubs: Three takeaways from the David Ross press conference

Chicago Cubs: It isn’t 2016 anymore.

Throughout the press conference, Ross emphasized the fact that he’s all about moving forward. He seems to understand that it’s no longer about 2016, in more ways than one.

For one thing, Ross is no longer the cuddly “Grandpa Rossy” character that many have made him out to be. In fact, that’s never who he was, as Ross admitted that the persona has been overblown.

The former catcher gained such a great reputation, not because he was fun-loving and friendly, but because he knows a lot about the game and knows how to hold players accountable. Indeed, accountability came up several times during the conference.

Yet it’s also not 2016 because, as Theo Epstein pointed out, a lot has changed in the game since then. Largely because of that, the Cubs’ 2016 championship is a distant thing of the past. Ross said that he wants to win multiple championships. He’s not going to do that by reminiscing about the “good old days” but rather by moving forward with the group of players he has in 2020 and beyond.

Chicago Cubs: David Ross has been preparing for this.

Right away at the press conference, Ross addressed the fact that he doesn’t have managerial experience. However, throughout the conference, he spent a lot of time explaining why he is ready to manage the Chicago Cubs.

Really, Ross started preparing for this role long before his playing days were over. Particularly as a backup catcher, he had many chances to learn from several great managers, which he talked about on Monday. It seems that Ross has wanted to manage for quite some time and that he views his hiring by the Cubs as the culmination of years of preparation.

“I’ve been a part of a lot of winning teams,” Ross said. “I know what winning looks like. There are things I’m going to expect out of the players, out of myself, that entail winning. Some of those things come with respect, trust, commitment, effort, hard work and accountability. These things are important to me. My players can expect that from me, and I will expect that from them.”

While the former backstop doesn’t have managerial experience, we can’t discount both his playing career and his experience working in the front office over the past three years in preparing him for the job. At the press conference, he pointed out the fact that he’s had a chance to see lots of different aspects of running a major league ballclub since he retired as a player.

This isn’t to say that Ross doesn’t have some learning to do. In fact, he admitted this during the conference. He seems willing to put in the time and effort required to do the job well.

Chicago Cubs: David Ross is not a front office “puppet”.

At least, that’s the message we heard on Monday. We know that Ross was the favorite for the job from the beginning. And we can argue whether the other candidates really had a fair chance to become the next manager of the Chicago Cubs. Still, both Theo Epstein and Ross tried to downplay the notion that Ross would be a “puppet” when asked questions about it.

At one point, Epstein gave an example of a time where Ross disagreed about how to handle a pitcher who had just been called up from the minors. How much that example, or anything else that was said on Monday, will calm fears among doubters of Ross not being willing to express disagreement when necessary remains to be seen.

“I take this job very seriously,” Ross said. “I know there’s a lot of work ahead. But I’m so honored to be able to lead such a talented group, and I’m looking forward to that process.”

Still, both Epstein and Ross seemed to agree that the job of a manager isn’t just to do whatever the front office says. If we believe what was said on Monday, Ross will have at least some free reign to put his own stamp on this team.

I’ll admit that I was among those who were skeptical about hiring David Ross to manage the Chicago Cubs. While I still believe he has plenty to prove, overall I liked what I saw at Monday’s press conference. Now comes the hard part: getting to work for the 2020 season.