Cubs ink manager David Ross to extension
MESA, Ariz. — The good news continues to roll in for the Cubs.
The team announced Friday afternoon that they had signed manager David Ross to an extension through the 2024 season with a club option for the 2025 season.
“I don’t think I was too stressed about it,” Ross said. “But it’s you know, it’s always nice when the organization has confidence in me. [Cubs president of baseball operations] Jed [Hoyer] and [Cubs chairman] Tom [Ricketts] and the whole front office feel like they believe in you and have confidence in you.”
Part of that confidence stems in the unique first seasons he’s experienced. In his first season in 2020, Ross led the Cubs to an NL Central crown, but it was a 60-game shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Then in 2021, still dealing with restrictions from the virus, the Cubs sold off the core of the 2016 championship team at the trade deadline.
“It hasn’t been two easy years,” Hoyer said. “And I think that the fact that it wasn’t two easy years is part of why we have so much comfort in giving him the extension. He’s had to deal with real adversity, real uncertainty and he’s done it really smoothly.”
Ross was named manager after the 2019 season and has posted a 105-117 record in his two seasons at the helm.
“David has done a fantastic job as manager,” Hoyer said after the end of the 2021 season. “He’s learned a ton on the job. Even while learning, I think he’s excelled, he’s kept morale good, he’s run the staff very well. I love having him as a partner. We’ve had some preliminary discussion on an extension — that’s the report that was out there. That’s accurate. Our hope certainly is that David’s here for a long time.”
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Ross finished third in NL manager of the year voting in 2020.