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David Ross sheds light on chaotic free agency process
Veteran catcher David Ross recently signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, reuniting him with Boston Red Sox teammate Jon Lester. At that time, we noted it was a sensible signing for Chicago given his past success with the Cubs new ace, but not one that would steal headlines or garner lengthy discussion on television. That much remains true. However, it turns out the process leading to his decision is well worth discussing, which is exactly what Ross did with Rob Bradford of WEEI in Boston.
Ross gave Bradford a candid review of the chaotic final hours before his decision, including how he felt the Jon Lester signing may have impacted his offers from both Chicago and Boston, plus the surprising strong push made by the San Diego Padres. Ross notes that he'd already turned San Diego down twice when they made a late aggressive bid on Dec. 19. It was an offer Ross felt was worth discussing, but not until he finished a two-hour workout.
From there, he says, all heck broke loose.
To Ross’ surprise, there was plenty to discuss after those two hours at the gym.
There had been the agreement by the Padres to trade catcher Ryan Hanigan — whom was just acquired by San Diego three days earlier — to the Red Sox in exchange for Will Middlebrooks. And then a report that Ross had also agreed to a deal with the Padres.
“It was a really weird day,” he said. “I went to sleep and got up the next morning and my agent told me the Padres had made another offer. I told him I was going to workout and we would talk when I got out. I literally got out of the gym, turned on my radio and they said David Ross had committed to the Padres. I couldn’t believe it. So I got my agent on the phone right away to try and figure that out. For about two hours of my day, it was crazy."
Crazy sounds like an understatement. Could you imagine hearing or reading a report that you've made a life-altering commitment when no such decision had been made? Though he knows it's his word that's final, the first few moments of Ross' call to agent Ryan Gleichowski had to be quite interesting.
Once that was sorted out, Ross moved forward with his decision to sign with Chicago. It's the way he was leaning throughout the entire process anyway, but he was probably anxious to get it finalized after the day's confusion.
“I had turned [the Padres] down twice, saying no right away. I hadn’t fully committed to the Cubs, but I had. I wanted to be a man of my word. Me and Theo [Epstein] go back to 2008 and I respect him. Once Boston was off the table, I had already put my heart with Chicago.”
It's easy to be on the outside looking in, second-guessing and wondering how certain moves go down. Ross' story won't connect us to the process entirely, especially when it comes to the more sought after free agents and trade targets who dominate the rumors and speculation, but it at least sheds light on the process and reminds us of the human emotions and elements that are involved.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
