Craig Counsell is opening up about his enormous decision to join a division rival.
Counsell, who had long been linked to the Mets as a potential managerial option, left his post as Brewers manager to become skipper of the Cubs in a move that shocked the baseball world on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the former big leaguer opened up about his decision to sign a record $8 million-per-year contract with the Cubs.
“I think as I was going through this process, it became clear that I needed and wanted a new professional challenge,” he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “At the same time, look, I’m grateful to be part of this community. And that’s going to continue, hopefully, because it has nothing to do with baseball, that part of it. I’m looking forward to being part of a new community and hopefully impact our community well, too.
But as I went through it, it just became clear that I needed a new challenge.”
Counsell, who signed a five-year deal, became one of the sought-after managers on the market this offseason after leading Milwaukee to the postseason in five out of the last six seasons, including a trip to the NLCS in 2018 that ended one win short of a World Series berth.
The Cubs, who were not originally in the market with David Ross at the helm, made the decision to cut ties with the former big league catcher and instead bring in Counsell to lead the team.
A Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, native, Counsell said that staying in the Midwest is a good thing for him and his family.
“In looking at my decision, you’re considering a number of things, and the challenging part of this industry is that there’s one job in 30 places in 30 different cities and me still preserving what I think is a great situation,” Counsell said Tuesday. “I was able to do that, yet also get a professional challenge.
“But the proximity made this attractive.”
Despite many links to the Mets — who hired former Brewers executive David Stearns to run their baseball operations — Sports Illustrated reported Counsell did not have the Amazin’s near the top of his list in the end.
Counsell and Stearns, according to SI, are “not particularly close.”
The nine-year manager said that Monday was an emotional roller coaster that included some crying but added that he’s ready to take over a Cubs team that just finished on the outside of the playoff picture this year.
“I mean, it’s just, it’s a challenge to me with an organization that is very much in a good place and is just trying to do some special things,” he said. “So, that part of it certainly is exciting and alluring. And, you know, it’s a challenge. It’s going to be hard. It’s scary. Because change is scary.
“But sometimes you need to push yourself out of that comfort zone, and that makes it exciting.”
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