Cubs Fire David Ross and Hire Manager Craig Counsell away from Milwaukee

In a stunning move announced Monday, the Cubs hired Craig Counsell as their new manager and fired David Ross.

It’s far from shocking Counsell is no longer in the Brewers’ dugout, where he guided Milwaukee to five playoff trips over the last six years
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But after his contract expired, Counsell was supposed to land with the Mets or the Padres. Maybe the Astros or Angels or Guardians.

Ross took some heavy heat this season as the Cubs ran out of gas down the stretch and squandered a postseason berth that looked to be in the bag.

On the final day of the season — in Milwaukee ironically — Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was asked about Ross and he certainly didn’t sound like a managerial change was coming just over a month later.

“I think Rossy had a great season and the players play hard for him,” Ricketts said. “He’s our guy. I like him a lot. What I’m proud of, when the team got down way below .500 and it looked like the season was over, he didn’t let it go. He got the guys back and playing hard, and we got to here.

“He was a big part of that. He’s a great manager.”

Ross was a catcher with the Cubs for two seasons and a popular player on the 2016 World Series championship team.

The rest of the story in Today’s Daily Herald