Willson Contreras destroys David Ross on Instagram after shocking Cubs firing

The Chicago Cubs made the shocking move to hire Craig Counsell on Monday, making the former Milwaukee Brewers skipper the highest-paid manager in MLB history. Counsell will make $40 million over a five-year period. Obviously, that means David Ross is no longer in charge of the Cubs' clubhouse.

Ross spent four years as Chicago's manager with a career record of 262-284. The Cubs were on the precipice of a postseason appearance in 2023, but the team crumbled down the stretch, losing several must-win games to clear the postseason path for Arizona and Miami in the National League wild card race.

There was no indication that Ross was on the hot seat, but Counsell is broadly considered one of the best skippers in the game. His availability spurred the Cubs' front office to change, and Ross is a casualty. He figures to find a new managerial job eventually.

But, there appears to be some bad blood circulating the Cubs' organization at the moment. Willson Contreras shared the catcher room with Ross as a rookie in 2016. Then he spent three years under Ross' management before his offseason move to St. Louis.

Was their relationship on solid ground? Evidently not. Contreras took to Instagram with a savage response to the news of Ross' ouster.

"About time."

Willson Contreras has savage response to Cubs' firing of David Ross

That's a pretty harsh remark from Contreras. It's not common to see active MLB players go after former teammates and coaches in such a blunt manner. Clearly Contreras did not approve of Ross' performance in the manager's seat. Perhaps that contributed to his free agent departure last offseason.

It's only natural to circle back to the 2022 news cycle, where there were rumblings that Ross didn't approve of Contreras and facilitated his free agent exodus. Ross refuted those claims and professed a deep respect for Contreras, but it's not difficult to connect the dots here. Contreras spent his entire career in Chicago prior to his departure for the Cardinals, and Ross was there for much of it. Those two worked hand-in-hand as fellow catchers, but there was obviously friction in the building.

That all felt like water under the bridge until today, but Contreras still harbors a grudge. We can bet Ross won't be joining the Cardinals' bench any time soon. Ross approaches the game a specific way as a former catcher. Contreras did not have the same perspective on the game, from the looks of it.

For now, Contreras gets the final laugh, but Ross deserves another chance in the league after all he accomplished as a player and as a coach. There's every indication that he was well-respected in Chicago. Counsell was the great white whale — an opportunity the Cubs couldn't pass up — but Ross wasn't fired for incompetence.