The San Diego Padres don’t have a manager yet, and while it seemed like they had their candidate pool firmly down to just a few names, there might be a late entrant.
Former Chicago Cubs manager David Ross:
“The Padres, according to a source, are considering adding Ross to their candidate pool. The longtime major league catcher played for the Padres for part of the 2005 season and had former Padres manager Andy Green as his bench coach in Chicago the past four seasons.”
Hey, maybe he’s a fit. Ross is now an experienced manager who may be able to take what he’s learned and dealt with in Chicago to work better with another organization and group of players. I wouldn’t call it impossible.
But I am cynical, and my mind immediately went somewhere else: brain dump.
Until today, the Padres – and other manager-less organizations – wouldn’t have had any reason to be permitted to interview David Ross. Now, they have completely free reign to do so. Why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t they bring him in and try to suss out, for example, how the Cubs organization truly feels about Christopher Morel? Or Hayden Wesneski? Or Javier Assad? Ross, while not in the front office, ASSUREDLY has useful, non-public thoughts on those players that might come out during a full day of interviews. And for the Padres, that information might prove invaluable if they got into trade discussions with the Cubs.
Think I’m being overly conspiratorial? Give me a break. These are CRITICAL times for the Padres, and some of the trades they make this offseason could be CRITICAL for the future of the organization and the folks who hope to continue being employed by them. You really think they wouldn’t try to get every single possible information edge?
Now, does Ross have to spill the beans? Is he a total idiot and wouldn’t see what was going on if the interview were PURELY a brain dump? I really think he’d know. But the Padres probably wouldn’t be that transparent, and, like I said, it’s also possible they see him as a viable candidate. It could be a two birds, one interview situation.
I hope for the best for Ross in whatever comes next, but yeah, I’ll be a little leery if word breaks tomorrow that he’s in for an interview.