No experience required

Look, I don't know. Maybe this is Theo Epstein's Gerry Faust hire, and maybe it's the Boy Genius getting his mojo back.

All I know is, David Ross is pretty clearly what the Cubs have been missing since 2016, the glue guy who gave direction and occasional tough love to a clubhouse full of young'uns. The Cubs won the World Series the last time Ross was in that clubhouse, and they've put up diminishing returns since. So maybe Epstein looked at that and said, "This is the missing piece."

To be sure, he's got as much major-league managing experience as Faust had college coaching experience when Notre Dame handed him the reins to its storied football program. In fact, he's got no managing experience anywhere, not even with the Walnut Street Walnutters of the Grover's Corners Sandlot League. He's never even been a coach at any level.

So it's understandable veteran observers of Cub fender-benders past would regard this as just another left turn into traffic. "That's so Cubs," they are perhaps saying. And also, "Here we go with the College of Coaches again."

But maybe Theo, who's admittedly lost a bit of his shine these past three years, actually has recovered a smidge of it here. It's worth considering.

That there are red flags bloomin' everywhere with this hire is obvious. How does Ross go from being clubhouse buddies with many of these players to being the guy who sets the lineup every day and chews their tails on occasion? Having most recently played for Joe Maddon, and managed not at all, how much does he lean on Maddon for his managerial style and strategizing? Have the Cubs just hired Joe Maddon Lite?

All legit questions. However ...

However, it's worth noting that Ross, given his seniority in a young clubhouse, wasn't so much a  buddy as a de facto assistant manager, back in 2016. And he's a former catcher. Former catchers are historically adept at making the transition from diamond to dugout. So ...

So, we'll see. I think this could work out better than a lot of people suspect. Or at least not be the disaster some of the notoriously skeptical faithful foresee.

But then, I thought Gerry Faust would work out.