When the Brewers exited the postseason following a sweep at the hands of Arizona, it led to renewed speculation regarding the future of club manager Craig Counsell. Counsell has remained steadfast in his desire to wait out the 2023 campaign before discussing a potential contract extension in Milwaukee, despite owner Mark Attanasio making clear the club’s desire to retain him for 2024 and beyond. Previous reporting has indicated that Counsell figures to continue managing in 2024, though whether or not the Wisconsin-native will remain in Milwaukee is yet to be determined.
Now, it seems as though Counsell’s fate might take longer to decide than initially expected. According to Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post, the manager’s contract with the Brewers will not expire until October 31. Sanchez adds that it appears that any club who wishes to discuss a potential job in their organization with Counsell before the end of the month will need to seek permission from the Brewers to do so. As Sanchez notes, with plenty of managerial searches ongoing around baseball this offseason, any club that decides to wait on Counsell’s potential availability runs the risk of missing out on other preferred candidates who take a job elsewhere before the end of October.
Cleveland, San Francisco and Anaheim are all on the hunt for a new manager, though Counsell has been most frequently speculated as a possible manager for the Mets, who recently hired former Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, who Counsell managed under from 2016 to 2022. For Stearns’s part, he’s previously indicated that the club plans to take its time with the hiring process and cast “a wide net” in their search for the next Mets manager.
More personnel news from around the league…
- The Guardians are in search of a new manager for the first time in over a decade thanks to Terry Francona’s retirement, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that one candidate for the role is Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza. Per Sherman, Cleveland has already contacted Mendoza in hopes of interviewing him for the role. It’s a process that Mendoza, 43, is familiar with; he’s interviewed for several managerial positions in the past, most recently with the White Sox last season. Mendoza joined the Yankees in 2009 as a member of their minor league coaching staff and eventually worked his way up to a role on the big league coaching staff in 2017 before becoming the bench coach for manager Aaron Boone following the 2019 season, a role he’s fulfilled ever since.
- Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen recently signed an extension with the club that will keep him in Arizona through 2028, with a club option for 2029. While Hazen was rumored as a potential candidate to take over in the Red Sox front office for Chaim Bloom, who the club fired just before the end of the 2023 campaign, Hazen made clear to team president Derrick Hall that he had no interest in leaving Arizona. As relayed by MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, Hazen said that while he has family in Boston, he feels committed to the Diamondbacks, with an end goal of a deep playoff run and World Series championship. “That’s not done,” Hazen said, “We’re not even close to that yet.”
Counsell is not going anywhere, just using other teams for maximum leverage to get the most $$ out of cheap brewers. However, he may end up as brewers GM while promoting Arnold to President of baseball ops and Murphy taking mgr gig
I am a Reds fan and am nothing but impressed by Counsell. Such a good coach. Especially that the Reds have Bell. as their manager. Yet, if the Reds would have somehow won the division, then he would probably been shoo-in for Manager of the Year. What a game.
Counsell is a manager not a coach. But thanks for playing.
Troll. You really took the time to sputter your words just to make yourself feel better about being so sad? Grow up.
runningwithnailclippers;
Chrome 8550 knows the basics. You don’t.
You come to a baseball site and call a manager a coach. A
manager has coaches, kid.
Go back to computer baseball and rotisserie league and
take your name-calling with you.
How petty and high-minded can you be? You and Chrome must go to funerals for fun.
You come to a baseball site and call a manager a coach.
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I find that happens when FB season rolls around. You get use to using the word coach for FB, and it carries over into a BB conversation. I catch myself 95% of the time, but “coach” will occasionally slip thru.
IMO, Chrome should’ve known that everyone knows that Counsel if the manager, and therefore, the criticism was unwarranted, unnecessary, and unwanted.
If Counsell ends up with the Mets it was be as GM with Pat Murphy taking over as manager there.
I’ve read an opinion piece that suggested the Yankees should get a different bench coach. Someone in the Don Zimmer mold. Cleveland getting Mendoza could help that process along.
Like Buck Showalter?
Buck would never accept a bench coach role. Zimmer was fun and kept things light on the bench. Donnie Baseball is on the wrong side of the border.
Someone that Pedro Martinez can toss around like an obese rag doll?
I wonder if the Mets intend to talk to Chaim Bloom for VP/GM?
Bloom or James Click would be interesting.
New York would eat Bloom alive.
Counsell is going to be managing the Mets next season. Having to wait until after October 31st to announce it is not a problem.
If the Brewers lose both Stearns and Counsell, they’re in big trouble.
This all goes back to the Hader deadline trade, with the Brewers pampered players quitting and choking on the field for months when they had numerous opportunities to make the 2023 playoffs.
I mean no offense to Matt Arnold, but Stearns and Councell took a small market team with a limited budget and had them contending for years. Not a simple feat and not one that will easily be replicated.
A big part of the Brewers recent success has been their pitching. Josh Hader was acquired before Stearns was GM, Brandon Woodruff and Devin Williams were drafted before Stearns was GM. Corbin Burnes was drafted in 4th round in Stearns first year, he drafted Cory Ray the 5th player taken in 2016. He made a great trade for Yellich, overpaid Cain, and had the highest Brewer payroll in history, not even close to the past. He made terrible trades giving Garret Cooper for nothing, Khis Davis for nothing, Will Smith for nothing. Way overpaid Yellich and the signing of Bradley was brutal, along with last year trades. His first round drafting has been poor. He has done well , but took over a wealth of pitching any GM would be successful with. Past Brewer teams didnt have expanded playoffs, extreme low payrolls. Whoever has been selecting the international players is the true future of the Brewers. The Brewers will be successful in coming seasons with the 5th best farm system, due to international signings and last years draft.
Mel Ott (and I know who he was);
MLB is not rotisserie league. There’s more to heading Baseball Ops than acquiring players and watching how they do. The head of Baseball Ops (regardless of his/her title) has to run, monitor, and adjust a large operation of people.
The biggest part of modern baseball is making players a franchise has under contract better. That means coordinating analytic people, coaches, and managers at all levels (i.e. major and minor leagues). Under Stearns this is exactly what happened. All those players you mentioned that were there when he took over became more productive contributors to a winning team – the Brewers weren’t winning when he got there.
Again, this isn’t rotisserie league – it’s not a group of players stats vs. the stats of another group of players. It’s about players competing on a field.
“…but took over a wealth of pitching any GM would be successful with.”
Really? Then why didn’t the last GM has success with them?
The most interesting thing to me as a fan was how Brewers Catchers fared once Stearns got there. The Catcher is easily the most important player on a team as he works with all the pitchers and calls the game. Under Stearns the Brewers got more out of so-so Catchers than those players ever had done before or since. That was the major reason the Brewers pitching was suddenly so good.
You kids come on here and run down FO, managers, and coaches accomplishments when it suits your fancy….i.e. Dave Dombrowski just spends money and runs down farm systems.
You are just picking and choosing which moves were not great. Which I can do with any GM in MLB history, or any professional sports league in the world for that matter. And if I have to hear ONE MORE TIME how Yelich was signed to a bad contract…Sure, his production declined from MVP player after he shattered his kneecap, and then went through the COVID year where a lot of players struggled. He has slowly recovered his value, and now he is back to the type of player he was that the Brewers first traded for from the Marlins. It is well know that it costs at least $8 mil per WAR. Yelich had a 3.6 WAR in 2023, which was his typical for when he played with the Marlins. This equates to a yearly salary value of $29 million. He signed for $22 million per year, with $4 million deferred per year, which saves the owner money in the long run. Every talking head said how Yelich took an extremely team friendly deal, and should have signed an extension for a lot more money. Enough with this “Yelich is the worst contract in the league” garbage. Does he have his MVP power anymore? No. But dude gets on base. Have you seen Moneyball? There were 8 worse contracts signed JUST THIS PAST OFFSEASON. Bogaerts, Rodon, Correa, Machado, Judge, Turner, Swanson, Contreras.
You couldn’t be more wrong. CC either manages in MKE or not at all. He just built a $2MM home in SE Wisconsin and his two sons play ball in MN and MI. Why in the world would he decide to manage here in NYC?
He’ll be coaching the Mets. Go Jets!!!
Counsell will NOT be managing anyone in 2024 he’s stepping away. Don’t read into any of the garbage from the NY post. He has 2 sons playing B1G baseball plus 2 daughters in HS. He’s stepping away because he probably wants to be a father.
Wrong. If that was the case he would have said so by now. He has very deliberately planned for the expiration of his contract. And the Mets are going to make him an offer he can’t refuse. It’s time for CC to manage a team with the resources to win a World Series.
No.. Your wrong! He’s not going to say anything till his contract expires on Oct.31
I suspect CC could have almost any manager’s job that’s open or becomes open. He is that well thought of throughout MLB.
Brewers won’t be able to match an offer from NY or SF, but those teams don’t figure to be in contention next year so CC might just pass.
I like what a previous poster suggested: Make CC the Brewers GM and pay him accordingly.
Bottom line here is if the Brewers genuinely wanted to keep Counsell in place, they would have done it by now. I know it takes two to tango, but it just doesn’t seem like either party is wholeheartedly committed to extending this gig.
From 1 in-game chat I recall with Mark A, he said Counsell asked that no further talks take place until after the season ended (I don’t know if that meant when MKE’s season ended, or after the world series). And that if it was strictly his decision to make, he’d lock up Counsell long term.
So, my understanding is Counsell wants time to mull his options. I won’t speculate on if that means he’s considering other jobs, taking time off, possibly moving into a front office role, or any of the countless things others are absolutely positive he’s going to do. I do know it will be fun watching everyone on here who guessed wrong try and explain why they weren’t actually wrong, once he makes a decision…