10:20am: The Brewers have officially announced the hiring of Counsell to a three-year contract that runs through the 2017 season. In a statement within the press release announcing the move, Melvin offered the following statement on his new manager:
“Craig has many years of Major League playing experience, and his three-plus years of learning all aspects of baseball operations helps prepare him for this managerial position. There will be challenges, but Craig has never shied away from leadership responsibilities on the field as a player or in his most recent role. I believe his on-field success as a player and his awareness for preparation should resonate in the clubhouse. Growing up in Milwaukee, it is very important for him to bring a winning culture and team success to Brewers fans.”
MAY 4, 7:26am: The Brewers view Counsell as a long-term replacement and will give him a multi-year contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
MAY 3: The Brewers will hire Craig Counsell as their next manager, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. The team announced the firing of Ron Roenicke Sunday night and will formally announce their new hire Monday morning.
Counsell is currently a special assistant to Brewers GM Doug Melvin. He was a finalist for the Rays managerial job this past offseason, but he withdrew his name from consideration in order to stay on with the Milwaukee front office, where he has worked with the Brewers front office since retiring as a player.
Counsell has no managerial experience, although he’s regarded well enough in the industry to have been considered not only for the Rays job, but for the Red Sox’ hitting coach position, for which he interviewed in 2012. He is far from the first manager to be hired without prior experience, as there’s been a growing trend of hiring rookie managers in recent years. Paul Molitor (Twins), Kevin Cash (Rays), Walt Weiss (Rockies), Mike Matheny (Cardinals), Bryan Price (Reds) and Brad Ausmus (Tigers) are all examples of recent hires that had no prior experience as a manager in the Majors or Minor Leagues.
The 44-year-old Counsell spent parts of 16 seasons in the Majors as a player, including with the Brewers in 2004 and from 2007 through the end of his career in 2011. He hit .255/.342/.344 while playing mostly second, third and shortstop. Counsell also played key roles in World Series wins for the 1997 Marlins and 2001 Diamondbacks, winning the NLCS MVP award in 2001.
Counsell will inherit a Brewers team that got off to a poor 7-18 start. Melvin has suggested the Brewers could begin trading veteran players in an effort to rebuild, a process Counsell evidently would then oversee.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
As long as he doesn’t coach batting stances.
Blue jays just had a series with cleveland and some of the indians players have such odd stances as well. Ryan raburn and i think it was lonnie chisenhall if im not mistaken
Total attempt to try and get fans interested and the fact the Brewers have a love affair with him. They always supported him as a future manager and I guess they can give him that chance.
While Counsell was still a player, Bob Brenly frequently discussed during Cub’s broadcasts that Counsell would be an excellent manager some day. (Brenly managed Counsell in Arizona).
Hopefully he’s better than Brenly.
Well, I mean the guy did win a WS…
Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling at the top of their games starting 11 of the 17 postseason games they played (plus an additional relief appearance by Johnson) will help that along.
True but kershaw, Grienke couldn’t get it done, the Braves only got 1 ring with smoltz glavine maddux, verlander, price scherzer. ..give brenly credit
No offense to any of those pitchers but Johnson and Schilling were absolutely incredible that year in the playoffs. Schilling had 48 1/3 innings pitched with 6 ER and 56 Ks. Johnson had 41 1/3 innings with 7 ER and 47 Ks. They pitched 89.2 of the 157 innings the D’Backs played that post-season.
Other than putting them out there, I’m not really sure how much credit you can give him. What did he do that any other manager wouldn’t have done?
Well that was fast.
Just a roster filler to try and keep butts in the seats
A roster filler? Managers dont take a roster spot. Lets give the guy a chance before you start ripping on him.
Well that’s the mgr, come July the real rebuild comes Gomez,Lohse,Garza,K-Rod,W.Smith.
Gomez should garner 2 high end prospects
Well Gomez and K rod should net some good prospects. Segura would be a nice haul as there are some SS hungry teams (Mets) that could part with good prospects. Lohse and Garza would be back of rotation innings eaters so they would garner decent prospects but I wouldn’t expect to get top tier guys. The real question is what would they get for Braun?
Hardly anything. No one will part with top tier prospects unless the Brewers eat a significant portion of that monster contract extension they gave Braun a few years ago. And even then, he didn’t exactly light it up last year with his bat the way you’d expect.
The Brewers would likely have to eat a significant portion of Braun’s salary to get anything of value for him. He’s damaged goods from a PR perspective and has been injury prone in recent years. That contract is going to be an albatross for the Brewers for a long time.
He’ll garner quite a bit. People here tend to underestimate how much players will bring back if they are signed to big extensions. But what they forget is how much it would cost to sign a free agent of Braun’s (or Tulo or Hamels) ability over the offseason. Some team may balk at the cost, but all it takes is one suitor for a deal to be made.
What you’re overlooking is that Braun has been less then a star player since he came back from his suspension and has had to keep clean. You cannot put him in a class with Hamels, nor in one with Troy Tulowitzki if he’s remotely healthy.
Between 2016 and 2020 Braun is owed $105M. I’d have trouble playing half of that, as he’s now 31 years-old and surely on a glidepath down. And the idea of giving up top prospects to get him even if the Brewers paid half? Don’t think so – I’m keeping the prospects and either developing them or using them to get a better ballplayer then Braun.
Agree on this, Hamels and Tulo are certainly in a class above Braun these days. Braun hasn’t been the same player at all since returning from his suspension, and I’d be shocked to see any team try to trade for him unless a bargain presents itself. If he were remotely as productive as he was before, then it’d be a different story, but the slip in production on top of the monster contract pretty much spells immovable. But as of now, I think Braun is going to be the one constant for the Brewers through the rebuild.
There can be 1,000 fish that don’t take the bait, but you still get to eat if one does.
I agree. He looks like the next Soriano. He will be stuck with the Brewers and they with him until he’s in the final year of his contract. Then they might be able to eat enough to make him tradable.
I honestly don’t see the Mets wanting Segura, especially for ‘good prospects’.
Rct…Don’t want to see Segura moved anyway, he’s part of the solution not the problem.
He was worth zero WAR last year and is on pace for about 1 WAR this year. . .
Playing more like 2013 version this year. LY injury issues plus death of his son set him back, understandably.
K-Rod can’t be traded until July; I think Braun’s contract runs through 2020 and it will be hard to move that, especially since he’s not hitting at all. Segura and Gomez are the big trade chips but seems unlikely that Milwaukee would move either.
While it isn’t likely, they really should take a good minute to consider trading Gomez, at least shopping the idea around to see what teams will offer for him, because he could potentially bring a haul and a half for them back.
He would bring in a definite haul; he’s only 29 and on a great contract through next season. I just wonder, though, if he’ll still be good when the Brewers are ready to contend again and should be kept. But if he ended up on the market the offers would probably be pretty great for Milwaukee.
Will Smith was an odd name to throw in there as a player to get rid of as part of the rebuild.
Ryan…..only reason I included Smith, is that LH relievers are always valuable to contenders down the stretch; actually hope the Brewers keep him.
Counsell is, by all accounts, a great guy and well respected – albeit totally unproven as a coach or manager. Let’s hope he’s up to the task. As for Melvin, if they do end up starting over, it’ll be interesting to see if he changes his strategy. For some reason he seems to hate small ball and favors defense over situational hitting. If you’re as reliant on the long ball as the Brewers are it’s inevitable that there will be prolonged slumps throughout a long season. Above all else though, a concerted effort needs to be made to develop pitchers from within. The Brewers can’t afford to buy their rotation in free agency and the current strategy of picking up aging veterans, especially former Cardinals, isn’t working.
No team can win without the farm system producing at least some (cheap) quality players every few years. Even the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers have learned that lesson.
Mypoint…very good response. The pitchers absolutely need to be developed from within. It seems a large fire sale will take place at the trade dead line, as the farm system needs to be rebuilt, so the Brewers are able to consistently produce quality prospects from within.
Melvin also decided that not having a first baseman for two straight seasons was a good idea; remember Yuni Betancourt and Alex Gonzalez at first?
That was the season they lost Corey Hart, Mat Gamel, and Taylor Green to season ending injuries in ST.
That doesn’t explain 2014, though, and the Mark Reynolds/Lyle Overbay platoon. First basemen are generally not as hard to find as the Brewers make it seem.
I agree with you 100% on almost everything. At this point I don’t think it really matters who we hire as a manger. Are first focus should be how to rebuild this team. And in my opinion is we follow what the Astros are doing, and we start over completely. We need to bring in some young guys and just let them develop. Mark and Melvin probably won’t want to take this route because they know it will make them lose attendance at home games which will cost them some money, but in the long run I feel as though this is our only option. Picking up older pitchers and trying to make them ace just isn’t working, and hopefully we realize this and make the right decision moving forward!
This makes me feel old. Older than when Matt Williams and Walt Weiss got hired.
what the…
Congrats, Craig. Now good luck, because with this bunch, you may need a lot of it.
1. Hire Craig Counsell as manager
2. Force all players to use Counsell’s batting stance
3. Profit
Seems like an odd choice, unless Milwaukee completely rebuilds. Counsell hasn’t ever managed anywhere before and that career path doesn’t seem to work out great; Bo Porter, anyone? It seems odd that the Brewers picked up Roenicke’s extension this spring and fired him a month into the season, while two of his best players are injured. This could get much worse for Milwaukee.
The Astros are 18 and 7 and Bo Porter should be a part of it.
I hope he gets another chance to manage.
Porter had a bad team, but he was also just an awful tactical manager. He might get another shot somewhere, but needs to manage in the minors first.
Multi-year? I can see interim, but there are a lot of names out there to pick from.
Best of luck Craig!
As a lifelong Brewer fan
I truly believe that Mark A dropped the ball on this one. Ron was a good
manager, yes he didn’t have much fire to him but he knew what he was doing. The
problem is the Brewers have no players to work around. We like to sign pitchers
who are out of their prime, and then go call them our ace. Besides the MLB the
Brewers farm system is no better and in my opinion it might be one of the worst
in the MLB. The brewers gave are young guys away so we could make a playoff
run, and after that run all of our guys left. As much as I hate to say it we
are in a rebuild mode. We need to get rid of Melvin bring in a young GM that’s
willing to shake the dice. I feel we should start trading some guys to build a
young team, and then in a couple years we make a big signing and try to make
another run. It’s tough situation in Milwaukee right now, and if we don’t have
money to spend we have no other option than to follow the route the Astros have
gone. Hopefully Mark realizes what is going on, and he finds a co-owner so we
have some extra money to dish out, and at that point we can keep our young
talent in Milwaukee. It doesn’t matter who the Brewers hire a manger is not at
blame for this bad start it’s the players.
The catch-22 is that for mid and small market teams it’s all about the farm system developing players. The problem is that everyone is trying to do that to some degree, and like everything else that is competitive, only a few can succeed at it.
I think you are underestimating the Brewer’s farm system. Nobody would call it a top tier system, but its far from embarrassing. Furthermore, Doug Melvin has consistently found above average production from non prospect types.
Seems odd to give someone with zero managing experience a multi year contract…
Could be an effort to get the fans energized because Counsell was always a fan favorite.
I would guess it’s because a full rebuild will be happening soon and they want Counsell to be on the ground floor for it; might be a harder sell for a veteran manager to agree to take over a rebuilding team. I’ll bet Segura, Lohse, Garza, and Aramis are gone in short order. When K-Rod is eligible to be traded, he’ll probably be moved, too. Can’t see Braun, Lucroy or Gomez going anywhere.
I certainly understand that thought process, but if a full rebuild is in order, it usually comes with a new GM. If that were to be the case, the new GM would likely want “his guy” as manager.
It’s a hypothetical, but not one that’s off in left field by any stretch.
I think Counsell will become the new GM at the time of Melvin stepping down at years end to save face and become a consultant to Counsell. Craig will bring his own man at the end of the year.
Despite their awful start due in large part to a major hangover from last year’s collapse, it’s premature to assume they will begin a major overhaul with 137 games remaining and 6.5 games behind in the wild card. Brewers have never conducted a complete roster purge and I don’t see it happening now. Too great a percentage of their revenue comes from ticket sales. They’ll certainly shop veterans like Lohse, Garza, Ramirez, K-Rod, and Broxton when it becomes clear who are buyers and who are sellers, but I don’t see Lucroy going anywhere for instance. With the system depth at SS (Sardinas, Arcia), they’d listen for offers for Segura.
Agreed. Lucroy isn’t going anywhere. He’s been the face of the franchise since the Braun debacle. Braun isn’t going anywhere because he wouldn’t net much of anything without the Brewers eating a significant portion of his contract. Carlos Gomez will probably be around because he’s a fan favorite and there’s no easy way to replace his defense. But beyond that lots of question marks. Lots of changes are in order, but I see the problem being more in the front office right now and this move alone doesn’t change anything there.
Har Har Har keep with the batting stance jokes they are original and funny. *eye roll*
Looks like they had Ron’s firing already in the books and was just waiting for the right moment. To fire someone, and then sign someone else to a 3 year contract that quick obviously didn’t happen in 12 hours.
Don’t forget Robin Ventura.
Sox fans are beginning to think they’d like to.
I feel sorry for the brewers i mean the only player thatcan hit for power is braun
And Gomez, and Lind, and Lucroy, and Davis, and Ramirez.
Wow! Not even an attempt at pretending to interview a minority. Evidently they were sure of who they wanted. Will be interesting to see if the former Commisioner’s team gets fined for not following the hiring protocol.