David Ross agrees to 3-year contract, officially becomes the Cubs’ manager

The Cubs didn’t go far to find their new manager. Nor did they pull a surprise.

It’s David Ross. The Cubs interviewed five candidates for the job, but in the end it came back to the 2016 World Series-winning catcher who’d been the favorite to succeed Joe Maddon from the start.

Ross received a three-year deal with a club option for 2023, the Sun-Times confirmed. News broke of his hiring Wednesday, but the Cubs waited until the first World Series off day on Thursday to officially name him as their manager.

A press conference is scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m.

“David is as gifted a leader as I’ve ever come across, and I expect him to become a great manager,” team president Theo Epstein said. “He is a natural connector with a high baseball IQ and a passion for winning. David has always stood out for his ability to cultivate the ingredients of a winning culture: accountability, hard work, hustle, competitiveness, trust, togetherness, and team identity.”

Ross, 42, who has been an ESPN analyst and special assistant with the Cubs since retiring after the 2016 World Series, will be the team’s youngest manager since Jim Riggleman was hired a couple of weeks before his 42nd birthday in 1994. Ross has not been a manager at any level and has no coaching experience.

The Twins’ Rocco Baldelli and the Rays’ Kevin Cash are the only current managers who are younger than Ross, though that could change with a handful of jobs still open across the league.

“I always have greater comfort hiring for roles in which the person has done the role, but there are ways that can be overcome,” Epstein said. “Belief, skills, personal attributes can all outweigh a lack of experience.”

Ross won two World Series as a player, with the Red Sox (2013) and Cubs (2016). Especially close with Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward, he is considered an exceptional leader.

“A lot has been made, and rightfully so, of my connection to the 2016 World Series team and the notion that I’ll now be managing players I once counted on as teammates,” Ross said. “Having those relationships going into this will be a bonus, no doubt about it.

“But those guys know I’ll be the first to hold them accountable, the first to demand their best daily effort and the first to let them know about it if they give anything but their best. I never had a problem dishing out a lot of tough love as their teammate, and that won’t change as their manager. We’ll have our fair share of fun along the way, but working hard as a team, playing fundamental team baseball and winning a lot of games will be our top priorities.”

Instant critics of the move will point to Ross’ lack of experience. It will make him — and Epstein — an easy target as the Cubs strive for another World Series title while the current championship window is open.

Ross has been most visible as a broadcaster — not to mention as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” — since hanging up his catching gear for good.

“If it was Rossy, we’d obviously sit down. I’ve talked to him about it before,” first baseman Rizzo said on the final weekend of the season. “He’s in a really good place right now at home with his family, what he’s doing; he’s happy. It’s the pros and the cons.

“He’s my biggest mentor in this game, player-wise, him and [former Cubs coach Eric] Hinske. Can it work? Yes, but I don’t know which direction we’re going in.”

In recent days, Astros bench coach Joe Espada seemingly became a strong candidate for the job. He interviewed twice, traveling to Chicago on off days each time as the Astros gun for a championship.

The Cubs also interviewed veteran manager Joe Girardi, recently fired Phillies manager Game Kapler and internal candidates Mark Loretta and Will Venable to replace star Joe Maddon, who will be introduced as the Angels’ manager on Thursday.

Espada is believed to be a candidate for the Pirates opening. Loretta, the Cubs’ bench coach, interviewed with the Padres — for whom he was an All-Star infielder — and Venable, the Cubs’ first-base coach, interviewed with the Giants.

Girardi is widely believed to be the front-runner for the Phillies job. And the Padres hired Jayce Tingler as their new skipper. Like Ross, Tingler has no major league managing experience.

Ross will be charged with, among other things, getting more from the Cubs’ young core of position players than predecessor Maddon was able to get over the last couple of seasons. Epstein has emphasized the word “accountability,” which for Ross will mean getting players to work harder, work together more and improve their attention to detail.

Lester also played with Ross in Boston and was his personal catcher there and on the North Side.

“If it’s Rossy, then I’m sure we’ll butt heads just like I butted heads with [Maddon],” Lester said. “But, at the same time, I’ll respect the hell out of him and he’s my boss. He makes a decision, you have to respect that.”

Ross will make a whole bunch of decisions now, and he’ll be under the microscope throughout a critical 2020 and beyond for the Cubs.

His popularity, stemming from his sizable role in an unforgettable championship, will help his cause publicly, but only to a point. The Cubs are in win-now mode, and there will be a low tolerance among fans, at least, for rookie mistakes or any other signs of weakness from the manager.

If the Cubs go down in one-and-done history with Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Rizzo and the rest of their core, it will be seen as an enormous opportunity missed. Like the 1985 Bears, this team was intended to win it all more than once.

Now, it’s on Ross to find all the right buttons to press.