One week after leaving the Milwaukee Brewers, Craig Counsell used to be formally introduced as the new manager of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday. The winningest manager in Brewers historical past mentioned the imaginative and prescient laid out through president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer offered him at the Cubs, and contributed to him becoming a member of the North Siders.
“This organization is just in great health. Jed presented a very compelling vision of that,” Counsell said Monday. “It is time to be a Cub. There is momentum happening here. And it feels close, and that means we have a really exciting future ahead of us, and now it’s my job to be part of taking us to the next level. That’s the plan.”
The Cubs went 83-79 this season, 9 video games worse than the Brewers, although they have got core veterans locked up long-term (Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson), a number of touted younger avid gamers at the roster (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks), and a farm machine poised to ship much more ability to the large leagues, together with most sensible pitching prospect Cade Horton.
Of direction, the Cubs gave Counsell a large five-year contract value $40 million, which is believed to make him the absolute best manager in baseball historical past, surpassing the $7.5 million the New York Yankees paid Joe Torre in 2007. Counsell additionally will get to stick on the subject of his Milwaukee, his native land. The Cubs are at the upswing, they are on the subject of house, and sure, they are paying handsomely. Everything aligned completely to entice Counsell clear of the Brewers.
“I’m here because you have to challenge yourself to get to the next place,” Counsell said, including he feels heightened drive as the absolute best paid manager. “… There’s pressure in this job. There should be. There’s a financial component to this obviously. My job is to win baseball games no matter what.”
Counsell showed Hoyer reached out to him on Nov. 1, the day after his contract with the Brewers expired, and he overlooked Hoyer’s preliminary name. He referred to as him again and the 2 agreed to satisfy that day as a result of Counsell used to be set to fly to New York to satisfy with the Mets about their managerial emptiness. The pair agreed to a freelance 4 days later.
“I suggested I was interested, but cautious was the best way to say it,” Counsell said about his conversation with Hoyer. “But I was interested. We got together that day.”
While all that took place, the Cubs already had a manager in position. The membership sooner or later fired David Ross with a yr final on his contract to rent Counsell. Counsell mentioned Ross reached out to congratulate him ahead of his hiring even was public. “I respect the heck out of David Ross,” Counsell said Monday.
With Counsell introduced, the Cubs will now focal point on filling out his training workforce, and including to a roster that wishes a center of the order energy risk and extra pitching intensity. Oh, and Cody Bellinger is a unfastened agent. Re-signing or changing him with a related participant — of which there are few — is on the most sensible of the offseason to-do checklist.
Counsell left the NL Central rival Brewers after 9 seasons and is the franchise’s all-time leaders in video games controlled (1,332) and wins (707). Milwaukee has now not but employed a new manager.