David Ross no longer manages the Chicago Cubs after getting dismissed earlier this offseason, but his impact still looms large over the team that he managed for the last four years.
In fact, there's a good chance outfielder Seiya Suzuki wouldn't be with the Cubs were it not for Ross, who played a key role in recruiting him from Japan.
It turns out that the former manager may not have been entirely truthful with Suzuki when describing his future home, however. In a recent interview, the slugging right fielder revealed a hilarious story about what Ross told him about Chicago.
According to Suzuki, Ross told him that the weather in Chicago "isn't that cold" and said it wasn't much worse than the weather in Hiroshima, where Suzuki played baseball in Japan.
Apparently, the Japanese star was unaware of the city's famous nickname -- "The Windy City" -- before signing a five-year, $85 million contract with the Cubs before the 2022 season.
Suzuki was in for a rude awakening and may have felt duped at first, but he and Ross quickly smoothed things over. When Suzuki approached Ross about the deception, the manager told Suzuki he only lied because he really wanted him to join the team.
All's well that ends well.
Suzuki enjoys playing for Chicago now (although maybe not in April) and has made a successful transition from the NPB to MLB. His first two seasons under Ross were highly productive, yielding 34 home runs, 120 RBIs, 15 steals, an .811 OPS and 4.8 WAR.
It's usually not a good idea for managers to mislead their players, but in this case, it worked out beautifully.
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