Ross didn’t get fired for a whole month after the Cubs season ended, whereas Nevin in LAA, Kapler in SF, Melvin in SD and Showalter in NYM were let go immediately after their team’s season ended. That’s pretty strong evidence the Cubs were planning on rolling with Ross in ‘24. In fact, on October 8 2024 the Cubs President of Baseball Ops stated Ross was returning. So we DO know Ross was keeping his job otherwise.
Like I said Counsell’s goal was to sell himself to the highest bidder, he would have known taking the Cubs offer was going to wind up getting Ross fired when he otherwise would’ve kept his job for ‘24, and potentially ending his career as an mlb manager, but that awkwardness didn’t matter in light of all that money.