The Chicago Cubs made one of the biggest signings of the offseason when it lured Craig Counsell to Chicago on a five-year, $40 million contract.
Counsell is worth the money, which is the most ever given to a Major League manager.
He led the Milwaukee Brewers to five playoff berths, three NL Central titles — including last season — and more than 700 regular-season wins. He’s embraced analytics and repeatedly looks for an edge to help his team win.
What he hasn’t done is led a team to the World Series as a manager. That is the eventual expectation for him in Chicago.
But the Cubs weren’t on the radar of many baseball observers when it came to Counsell, who was the most sought-after free-agent manager on the market after his contract with the Brewers expired. He was expected by many to sign with the New York Mets, where his former boss, David Stearns, was the new president of baseball operations.
But the Cubs swooped in and hired Counsell on the down low. The same day they hired Counsell they fired David Ross, who played for their 2016 World Series team.
But what if Counsell had turned down the Cubs? What would have happened then?
Well, USA Today reported on Sunday that if Counsell had turned down the Cubs, he had a destination in mind. The story reported that friends of Counsell said that he would have gone to Cleveland to replace Terry Francona, who retired after the 2023 season.
Think about it. Counsell didn’t go to the Mets and Carlos Mendoza, the bench coach for the New York Yankees, ended up with his first managerial job.
Counsell takes the Chicago job, which cleared the deck for the Guardians to hire former player Stephen Vogt to his first managerial job of any kind.
That’s how much Counsell influenced the managerial market in the offseason.
More must-reads: