Chicago Cubs: Three early observations of manager David Ross

Anti-Maddon with his starting rotation

Watching the Joe Madden-led Cubs play often made fans want to punch a hole in the wall anytime he abruptly pulled a starting pitcher from a game early, even if that player was in a nice groove or had a relatively low pitch count. “The Professor”, a.k.a. Kyle Hendricks, often fell victim to Maddon’s method of madness … see Game 7 of the 2016 World Series for more details.

Yet, with new manager David Ross now calling the shots, Hendricks, and the other starting pitchers can now breathe a huge sign of relief, knowing their good performances on the mound will most certainly result in less time sitting on the bench.

Having been a former catcher no doubt plays a vital role in shaping Ross’s viewpoint on how much his starters can handle on the mound. It’s likely that as a player, Ross probably disagreed and even got annoyed at times, seeing Maddon pull a starter way too early than most would have anticipated.

Watching Hendricks go the distance in a complete-game shutout against the Brewers on opening night was a thing of beauty. It was even more telling though, watching the out-right confidence Ross has displayed thus far in Hendricks, Tyler Chatwood, and Alec Mills, letting the latter two less-heralded players pitch six innings of work. Madden, on the other hand, would have had Mills out of the game as soon as he gave up that two-run homer to former Cub, now Cincinnati Red, Nick Castellanos.

Then again, maybe Ross has employed a longer leash on his starters because the team’s bullpen has largely been a circus act thus far, where their motto is: no lead is safe. Again, it’s way to early to make any conclusions on this whole subject, but early signs point to Ross going against the grain in Maddon’s line of thinking as manager.