With a magic number of three to clinch the NL Central, the Brewers could punch their ticket to the postseason this weekend. It’ll be their fifth playoff appearance in eight full seasons under Craig Counsell, the longest-tenured active skipper in the National League. Nevertheless, Counsell’s future in Milwaukee beyond October isn’t clear. He’s in the final season of a contract extension he signed in January 2020.
Owner Mark Attanasio told reporters last month that Counsell and the team had agreed to defer talks about an extension until after the ’23 campaign. That has led to plenty of speculation about the 53-year-old potentially going elsewhere or leaving the dugout entirely. Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Counsell is expected to continue managing in 2024, though his future obviously won’t be entirely clear until the offseason. According to Heyman, Counsell is making $3.5MM with Milwaukee this season.
Attanasio has made clear the Brewers hope to retain Counsell, who has led the team to a 701-621 record (53% win percentage) over his tenure. There aren’t any teams with a current managerial vacancy, though there’s been plenty of chatter about Terry Francona potentially stepping away from the Guardians after this season. The Mets are set to hire David Stearns away from the Milwaukee front office to lead baseball operations at year’s end, which figures to fuel some speculation regarding Counsell until his situation is resolved and/or the Mets make a firm commitment to current manager Buck Showalter.
Elsewhere in Milwaukee:
- Left-hander Aaron Ashby will join Triple-A Nashville on a minor league rehab stint, the club informed reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Journal-Sentinel). He’s trying to work back from early-April arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Ashby has been on the injured list all season and has battled shoulder woes at least as far back as last August. While the 25-year-old has shown the ability to rack up strikeouts and grounders at the big league level, his efforts to secure a rotation spot have been held back by inconsistent control and frustrating injury issues. The Brewers are presumably hoping for Ashby to work in short relief stints if he can make it back this fall.
- The club also continues efforts to secure funding for renovations to American Family Field, as chronicled by A.J. Bayatpour of CBS 58. Earlier this week, state legislators proposed a spending plan that’d see north of $700MM in renovations as part of an agreement to extend the club’s lease by 20 years to run through the 2050 season. Under that proposal, the team would put in $100MM, the city/county would contribute just over $200MM combined, and the state would pay roughly $411MM. According to Bayatpour, the legislature could vote on the proposal at some point next month.
Can’t see him going to NY. This is the team he grew up with. His hometown team. He was a bat boy in Milwaukee at 12 years old. He grew up 15 miles away. I think he wants to decide if he wants to continue coaching or not. His kids are playing sports now. And he lives and dies onevery pitch.
Counsell has 2 sons playing college baseball, Michigan and Minnesota, I can see him stepping away for a few years and watching them play and be a normal father which is why he wouldn’t commit to signing any extension this past winter and spring. John Heyman is full of crap he ain’t managing in 2024
Agreed 100%…his two decisions will be either continue in Milwaukee or step away completely. I think he realizes that awesome rotation is about to be broken up as well which will make the job much much harder.
Maybe Cleveland? He owes us one still for that hit off Nagy in Game 7.
711 million to put an extra loop in Bernie’s slide. Expansion will never happen with these cheap owners not willing to put their own money into it. It’s sad.
Expansion will happen. The expansion fee would give each existing team $100 million if they charge Nashville and Charlotte $1.5 billion each.
There’s going to be an Eastern team and a Western team. Nashville and Charlotte aren’t both getting teams… the Braves would have a fit.
ChiSoxPain, tough. Braves have had an entire region to themselves for 50 years. If the best two candidates are in the South, then boo-hoo.
Not only would the Braves have a fit with Nashville, but also the Cardinals and Reds.
Portland would bother the Mariners. Vancouver would encroach on the Mariners & Blue Jays. San Antonio would infringe on Houston & Texas. Sacramento the Giants. The Rockies, Dbacks, Mariners and A’s would lose out with Salt Lake.
Seriously, unless they’re expanding to Monterrey and Havana, somebody is losing “territory”
No deepseamonster, the Braves did not have
the entire Southeast U.S. for themselves for the last 50 years. The western half of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas are considered to be part of Cardinals nation. The Cardinals triple A team is in Memphis. If you ever attend a Cardinals game and park in the Cardinals’ parking garages, you will likely notice cars with Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas license plates. I doubt that the Cardinals owner and management have any enthusiasm for an expansion team in Nashville..
So what? Like I said, every market besides the most extreme long-shot Monterrey infringes on somebody.
All MLB would do is sweeten the pot for affected markets, i.e., if its Nashville and Portland then Atlanta and Seattle get a lot extra, maybe St Louis and Cincinnati get a little extra.
Vancouver and Missoula?
Go1962,
Now you have me wondering how to define “Southeast.” Arkansas is west of the Mississippi River, so is it in the Southeast or South Central? Picking nits, I know, but it’s something to ponder.
And their football team playing in the SEC doesn’t mean much when Oklahoma and Texas – two states clearly in the South Central – are joining soon.
Life’s not fair
I guess you don’t realize how popular baseball is in the southeast with a lack of major league teams. Both cities are four hours from Atlanta. Not exactly on their doorstep. Meanwhile every big town in North Carolina has a minor league team and has zero problem drawing attendance.
Baseball undoubtedly is popular in the SE, but major league teams in Nashville and Charlotte might more than fill the demand. Probably irrelevant because I can’t see those two cities both getting a team at the same time. I expect expansion teams to be one on each side of the Mississippi River.
That’s the dumbest take on the entire internet. Congrats
Anyone who pays an expansion fee under the current system is an idiot.
MLB needs to figure out a lot of things before they even think about expansion.
Hyperbole much? Have you even been on the internet? This is nothing.
There are a whole lot of politicians who set that record on a daily basis.
Desertbull- congrats, without referencing who, it’s your comment.
The Brewers would only pay $100M of the $711M? I’d work hard to vote out any politician who supports that waste of public money.
I didn’t think CC would coach next season with his kid playing college ball. However, with the money NY might throw his way it could be tough to pass up.
CC Sabathia is the only CC. Craig Counsell’s nickname is Cruisin Craig, and its not to be put into acronym form. His other moniker, Craig Counsell Revival is acceptable as CCR because there aren’t any conflicts with that acronym.
It’s too bad Ashby is just pitching now. They sure could use another lefty reliever in the postseason. Prolly too late…Counsell isn’t going to leave for another team. He hasn’t been able to watch his son play any games (university of Minnesota). That would suck. He might go on hiatus.
Counsell has pretty much already said this rehab stint for Ashby is just to get him some work in to amp things up for next year. On their website in an injury update Craig Counsell told Adam mcCalvy as much. Ashby returning to the majors this season is almost 0%.
Milwaukee would be nuts to let Counsell walk. Now whether he wants to leave and that is why he has not been extended is something we don’t know.
He could take a spot like Stearns in an advisory position with the Brewers and be able to watch his boys.
Exactly think he takes years off to watch boys. As far as expansion I think you see Nashville and Montreal to get expansion. One thing I would love to see is one team set up like the Green Bay Packers where the fans own the franchise. Sell a bunch of stocks for ownership.
Let the fans run it too. I’d like to see them only allowed to buy if it’s almost all their net worth though. That way when they run it into the ground with foolish spending and they have to get second full time jobs nobody will have to see or hear their terrible takes. That would be awesome.
Your an idiot
I really hope the Brewers can extend him. He’s the best manager in MLB right now in my opinion.
That is a boring ballpark in Milwaukee.
Yeah it sucks knowing you have a game regardless of the weather. Besides, they had to build outside of downtown. People love to tailgate. Maybe the views aren’t the same as PNC but it’s a nice park.
Weather happens. Didn’t have to “build outside of downtown” and people will tailgate over a man-hole cover if need be. Boring park. I enjoy Milwaukee, but that’s a lifeless park.
A downtown stadium isn’t designed to tailgate. It’s meant for bars and restaurants. Every baseball stadium should have a retractable roof. I liked county stadium but The Keg is much better experience.
cool story
Look, if Couns just wanted to watch his kids play a few games, I’m sure leadership would give him a few days to do so and try it out. It’s a long season and you trust your staff. Minor.
I think he stays, he loves being in the game, but I think it would hurt Milwaukee more if he left to be a dad. Dude is a great manager, seen plenty of him against the Cubs, he’s a good one.
It’s tough to see Counsell leaving the Brewers. The fans (for the most part) like him, ownership likes him, the players like him, he’s done nothing but succeed since becoming manager and to top it all off, he’s a hometown guy who grew up around the Brewers, ended up playing for the Brewers and now works for the Brewers. The only way I see him leaving on his own is if he wants a change in scenery. He’s been the most successful manager in team history, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be paid commensurate to that.