Ex-Cubs manager resurfaces in baseball two years after his cold-blooded firing

The Craig Counsell era of the Chicago Cubs has gotten off to a solid start, with the team posting an 83-79 record in 2024 before finally breaking its five-year playoff drought with a 92-70 record in 2025.

However, the years before his arrival were a bit more lean, as David Ross was tasked with taking over for fan favorite Joe Maddon prior to the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. "Grandpa Rossy", as he's affectionately called, did his best with a rebuilding squad, going 262-284 while welcoming the next generation of Cubs talent to Wrigley Field.

Of course, his managerial story didn't have a happy ending, as Jed Hoyer made the call to replace Ross with Counsell after publicly declaring that the former would come back for the 2024 season. It was a shocking mirror of the same stunt the team pulled to replace Rick Renteria with Maddon a decade earlier, though both were defensible from a team-building perspective, given the credentials of both Counsell and Maddon.

Now, a few years after recovering from the (proverbial) stab wound in his back, Ross is ready to manage again.

David Ross ready to manage in MLB again, eager to learn from Cubs tenure

In an interview with Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, Ross discussed getting fired by Hoyer and why he's remained out of baseball for the last few years. He divulged that he needed time to reflect on how he did with the Cubs, and that he's not interested in being a bench coach—he wants to get back in the saddle as a manager.

Rossy also talked about where he went right and wrong in Chicago, including his overwhelming focus on developing relationships with his players.

"I feel like I invested heavily in the players. It was my first time running a coaching staff, managing other grown men. It was a learning curve for me,” Ross told Mooney and Sharma. “I probably should have invested in the relationship with Jed, Carter and those guys more than I probably did."

For what it's worth, Ross did acknowledge that he felt somewhat betrayed by the organization, but as a longtime player, he accepts the business of baseball and doesn't harbor any ill will toward the Cubs.

"It’s a weird dynamic. That organization has been amazing to me. There’s still frustration there from just how things ended... There are a lot of more positives to talk about with how that organization treated me. That’s where it’s hard to stay mad, when you look back on how many great things happened to me there."

Of course, Ross won the 2016 World Series with the Cubs as a player, hitting a pivotal home run in Gam 7 of the World Series, which would prove to be the final at-bat of his career.

Now two years removed from his final season in the Cubs' dugout, Ross is ready to turn to the next chapter of his coaching career. Currently, the Angels, Giants, Braves, Rockies, Rangers, Nationals, Twins, and Orioles are on the hunt for a new manager.

Notably, Ross played for the Braves from 2009-12. He's rumored to be interested in their managerial opening in particular, though nothing has been revealed as to Atlanta's list of candidates just yet.