The Milwaukee Brewers are now in search of a new manager. Earlier today, it was reported that Craig Counsell, the winningest manager in franchise history, had accepted the managerial position with the Chicago Cubs. The news was quite a surprise as there were no reports that the Cubs were even searching for a new manager.
However, with Counsell available, the Cubs fired manager David Ross. Prior to this development, the New York Mets, Cleveland Guardians, and Houston Astros were the only teams (besides the Brewers) to have confirmed interest in Counsell.
As expected, Counsell is now the highest-paid manager in Major League Baseball. He signed a five-year $40 million contract with Chicago, setting a new standard for manager salaries across the league (which is, of course, what he wanted).
The Milwaukee Brewers Offered to Make Craig Counsell the Highest-Paid Manager in Baseball
As expected, Counsell did get what he wanted: the biggest salary for a manager in Major League history. However, it turned into a bidding war with multiple franchises offering him a salary that would have helped him achieve that goal. As it turns out, the Cubs won that bidding war and the Brewers, as usual, came up short.
The Brewers offered Craig Counsell in the neighborhood of $5.5 million per season, which would have easily made him the highest-paid manager in MLB.
Everyone expected the Mets to throw $7 million per season (or more) at Counsell.
No one expected the Cubs to do so.
Wow.
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) November 6, 2023
As Todd Rosiak reports, the Brewers offered Counsell an annual salary of $5.5 million per year. The highest-paid manager in baseball last season, Terry Francona, made $3 million. In short, the Brewers were willing to nearly double that figure to keep Counsell.
They were not, however, willing to match what the Cubs offered, though it is not yet known if Counsell even gave them a chance to.
The Team of David Stearns and Craig Counsell Left the Milwaukee Brewers for Big Markets
Mjs Counsell Stearns 1
David Stearns and Craig Counsell were well known for doing the most without having a big budget to work with. For years, they built teams that competed for postseason contention and towed the company line of doing so without spending a lot of money.
How ironic it is, then, that both of them have left the penny-pinching Brewers for the big markets of New York and Chicago. For Stearns, leaving Milwaukee for New York was a choice to return home, though he certainly left a bitter taste in fans’ mouths after his position with the Mets is the same one that became “too stressful.”
For Counsell, though, this is leaving home. Over the years, the Counsell and the Brewers made a big deal about how he grew up in Wisconsin, his dad worked for the team, and that he wanted nothing more to bring a World Series to his hometown team.
As it turns out, money always talks, and it has a loud voice. Make no mistake, Counsell is well within his right to take the bigger offer, and most people in his situation would have done the same thing.
But that doesn’t dim the spotlight on how the Brewers organization, by failing to open their wallets on multiple occasions, cost the team at least one World Series appearance and may be the reason Stearns and Counsell now work with new organizations.
With Counsell at the helm, there was always a feeling like Milwaukee could compete for the postseason. Now? Well, we’ll have to see who takes his place.
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