NEWSLETTER
New Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell – still can’t believe that’s a thing we’re saying – spoke with some in the Milwaukee media on his way out, and briefly touched on why he was leaving the Brewers and joining the Cubs.
Among the reasons to move, Counsell was looking for a new professional challenge in his life.
“I think as I was going through this process, it became clear that I needed and wanted a new professional challenge,” Counsell said, per 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 added that, with respect to the Cubs, specifically, the combination of being able to take on that new challenge in a location that fit for his life geographically was key.
Understanding his audience for these particular farewell-type comments, Counsell seems to have been pretty reserved in his comments on the Cubs, heavily focusing on his appreciation for his time with the Brewers and the community there.
“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,” Counsell said of the Cubs. “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.”
As far as his new salary goes and the impact on the managerial market, Counsell didn’t bite on that question and instead simply said that he just wanted the market to do its thing and decide on his salary.
The plan is for Counsell to be introduced, officially, as the new manager of the Cubs on Monday in Chicago. That’s when I suspect you’ll hear quite a bit more from Counsell about why he wanted the Cubs, why he sees this as an exciting challenge, what he likes about the plan for the team, and so on and so forth.
