The Seattle Mariners’ managerial search is still wide open, and one name getting real traction is David Ross.
The club is trying to replace Dan Wilson after a 76-86 season that ended with the Mariners missing the playoffs a year after reaching the American League Championship Series. So far, there have been no publicly linked candidates, which has left plenty of room for speculation around the job.
Ross has become an obvious fit to discuss. He’s 49, a former 15-year big leaguer who spent time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves and Cubs. As a catcher, he was mostly a backup, but his feel for the game and his presence in the clubhouse helped define his career.
He won World Series rings with the 2013 Red Sox and the 2016 Cubs, then jumped into managing with Chicago in 2020, just four years after he retired.
His Cubs run lasted four seasons, from 2020-23, and ended with a 262-284 record. He made the playoffs once, in the shortened 2020 season.
That said, the roster around him changed fast. In 2021, Chicago traded away Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, leaving Ross to steer a rebuilding club.
He did guide the Cubs back to 83-79 in 2023, but his exit came abruptly when Craig Counsell was hired away from the Milwaukee Brewers. Many around the game felt the way Chicago handled Ross was unfair.
Since then, Ross has stayed visible through his work with ESPN game broadcasts, and his reputation remains strong.
That was part of the pitch ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney made on the latest “Refuse to Lose Territory” podcast, where he laid out why Ross could make sense in Seattle.
"So, you know, and I am biased because I work with David Ross all year as a broadcast partner. I did three ' Baseball Tonight's ' with him last week. Super fun.
The thing about Rossi that I think is outstanding is that he has that dollop of humility that you and I have talked about that's a common denominator among so many successful people in the sport. Right?
And there's a little bit of a chip on his shoulder too, where you can feel, I mean, the way that his tenure with the Cubs ended, with Craig Counsell being hired out of left field, no one expected it to happen. And then basically, while David was still under contract, one they finished the hiring of Craig Counsell, then they fired David.
I'm sure for Rossi, that didn't land very well with how it played out. But Rossi, having been in the Cubs organization, he's fluent in analytics.
He is well aware of all that. He also has the personality of a catcher.
And we've seen so many former catchers become managers. He can speak pitching, he can speak hitting, and he's a culture guy...
And I'm sure that for the Mariners, restoring the culture back to a place where the players are helping each other is going to be a factor. And I think that's one of the things that David Ross does well."
Jerry Dipoto has said there’s no urgency to make a hire and that the search will be “exhaustive,” but Seattle would likely prefer to have its next manager in place before the new league year begins, five days after the World Series ends.
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