The Chicago Cubs made a staggering declaration of intent to the rest of the baseball world on Monday when they announced that they had fired David Ross and hired Craig Counsell as their new manager.
Counsell was signed to a record-setting five-year deal with the Cubs, which will pay him a reported $40 million, making him the highest-paid manager in MLB history.
By itself, that would be noteworthy enough. Counsell is widely regarded to be one of baseball’s top managers, and the Cubs have simultaneously strengthened their in-game decisionmaking while also weakening a division rival.
Of course, the instant comparison fans and pundits alike were drawn to was the idea that this was a similar move to the one the Cubs themselves executed in 2014. Buoyed by a likeable manager that had gotten the most out of some of the team’s young stars, the Cubs opted instead to jettison Rick Renteria from his position, hiring free agent skipper Joe Maddon from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Maddon went on to lead the Cubs to four consecutive playoff appearances, six series victories and the 2016 World Series championship, accomplishing more in his tenure than any Cubs manager had in a century.
The move to hire Maddon while already having Renteria in the mix was seen as both a victory and as a cold and calculated one, with the team valuing a leap forward over keeping around a well-regarded skipper.
As a result, the comparison between that decision and the move to hire Counsell while saying goodbye to Ross is an apt one, but what makes this maneuver just that little bit different is not only how quickly it came together, but just how beloved Ross was in the city, and how that didn't matter in the end.
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After all, this was a team that just one month ago had been quick to express how pleased they were with the job that Ross had done at the helm. The Cubs won 83 games in the 2023 season, and while some fans felt that different moves may have yielded a playoff appearance, it felt like the team was content with Ross’ leadership and his relationship with the players.
“We made huge strides forward as an organization,” President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said in early October. “We established a real core through free agency and guys coming through the system. We have real organizational momentum. It’s important to build on that, and Rossy is a big part of that.”
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Hoyer was far from alone in his effusive praise of Ross.
“Rossy had a great season, and the players play hard for him,” Chairman Tom Ricketts said. “He’s our guy.”
What's more, Ross had established himself not just as a manager, but as a borderline franchise icon. His home run in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series will forever live in Cubs' lore, and between that and his "Grandpa Rossy" persona, coupled with the adoration he engendered in teammates like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, his place in the good graces of fans remained unchallenged.
That standing, and the management's calculus, apparently changed in early November when Counsell’s contract with the Brewers expired. According to reports, the Cubs could have asked Milwaukee for permission to speak to Counsell before that date, but chose not to, instead waiting for him to become a free agent before reaching out.
That move illustrates a willingness, or even a need, to take a dramatic leap forward in a winnable division in 2024, and the silence surrounding the pursuit and ultimate acquisition of Counsell shows that Hoyer has learned some important lessons from his predecessor Theo Epstein.
Namely, Hoyer has learned two important lessons: the importance of working quietly but decisively, and that the most important part of the gig is being willing to act in the team’s best interest, even if it means saying goodbye to a person who has made such an indelible impact on the organization.
That is the key area where Ross and Renteria differed. While Renteria made a name for himself with his work with the team’s young players, he didn’t have the cultural and citywide credibility that Ross does, dating back to his tenure as a player.
Ultimately though, even that wasn't enough to save him.
The reality of the situation is that Ross was always going to be borderline in terms of having what it took to push the team to the next level, and the front office feels that Counsell is a slam dunk in that regard, and ultimately that’s why this decision was made.
Whether Counsell has the same success that Maddon did remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: while Hoyer is generally transparent with how he views each season for the Cubs, he is quiet and ruthless when it comes to executing that vision, something that Epstein and company prepared Cubs fans for during his time on the North Side.