NEWSLETTER
This is just a stray point that I’d been meaning to make here at the site, and when we discussed it on the podcast this week, I was reminded that I hadn’t yet articulated it here.
There is not a direct line between the loss of AGM and VP of Pitching Craig Breslow and the addition of new manager Craig Counsell. The moves happened entirely independent of each other. Each move was going to happen, regardless of whether the other move happened.
But will there ultimately be a relationship between the two moves for the Cubs in the years ahead? I sure hope so!
Let me explain.
For the most part, personnel in an organization have their lane, and they primarily stick to that. But in an appropriately collaborative organization – as I believe the Cubs to be – the whole process of player scouting, acquisition, and development is much more integrated than that. The Cubs *want* operations and transitions to be pretty darn seamless all the way up the ladder, from IFA signings and the Draft, up through the minor leagues, onto the Major League roster, and for years thereafter. People have their lanes? Yes. But it can all bleed together a little bit, so long as that serves the larger organizational goals.
I’m reminded of things Jed Hoyer was saying about Craig Breslow on his way out the door. Sure, his primary role was that of the chief of pitching, but he contributed in so many other ways because (1) he was bright and capable, and (2) the “things” in an organization are entirely siloed off from each other.
Craig Counsell’s lane with the Cubs will be that which you’d expect from a manager. He’ll work with the coaching staff. He’ll maintain the clubhouse. He’ll make the in-game decisions. The obvious managerial things.
But is that really all he’ll do? Is that really all the value the Cubs see in a guy like Counsell?
Of course not!
“I frankly thought he was going to end being the GM there (in Milwaukee,) not the manager,” Hoyer said this week about Counsell’s talent and trajectory. “Even in our conversations the last couple of days, talking through different things with the roster, it’s very clear he thinks about things both as a manager connecting players, but also thinks about it in terms of roster building. To me that was really appealing.”
The Cubs are absolutely getting some extra value in their addition of Craig Counsell. Great manager? Yes. But also a great contributor to the things the front office does? Roster-building, player-scouting, player-development? Also yes.
With Breslow exiting, the Cubs were going to be in a spot where they needed to bring in some outside voices (they’re down to just one AGM). It was an opportunity to make sure they didn’t become TOO insular in how they were doing things, as successful as the reshaping of scouting and player development has been the last four years.
Counsell is not going to be an AGM. He’s not going to be the new VP of Pitching. Those are still needs for the Cubs, internal and/or external. But he is absolutely going to be a new voice for the front office, bringing in experiences gleaned from working so closely with the Milwaukee front office for so long. Counsell is explicitly going to participate in the things the front office does on a routine basis. And, since he’s also the manager, he’ll have a leg up on how best to use/integrate/develop certain players throughout the season, since he’ll have already so closely participated in the process that got them there in the first place.
That’s an extra value Craig Counsell brings, and even if it’s not exactly as a replacement for Craig Breslow, Counsell’s arrival might help counteract at least some of the brain loss that happened when Breslow went to Boston.
