by Andy Jachim
Holy. Cow. It’s been half a week since this earth-shattering news, yet it still doesn’t feel real. Craig Counsell is set to manage OUR Chicago Cubs for the next five seasons, at the very least. What a job done here by Jed, Carter, and the rest of the front office. While getting rid of David Ross wasn’t an easy move for them, they put friendship aside and winning on the forefront.
Counsell is set to make over eight million dollars a season per multiple reports. With the length of the deal specified at five years, this is the biggest deal for a manager, both in terms of total money and average annual salary, in major league history. Being a massive Brewers hater, I was never Counsell’s biggest fan, but that was largely due to the fact that he was so darn good at his job. Year after year, he would take a Milwaukee team with a good rotation and nothing else to the playoffs. Those teams never had any business being as good as they were, yet Counsell led them to the playoffs more often than not.
The silver lining behind the move here isn’t solely about Counsell, it’s about what this organization is about to do. You don’t just bring in a manager like Counsell and make him the highest-paid one to ever do it if you aren’t planning on backing up the Brinks truck this winter. This hiring shows that moves are about to be made and I’m all here for it. Baseball was already starting to get exciting on the north side of Chicago, and this only adds more fuel to that fire. This is going to be the most highly anticipated offseason for the Cubs in quite some time. I don’t expect us to sit on our hands any longer, and it’s so, so exciting.
Buckle up Cub fans, and welcome in the new era of Baseball in Wrigleyville.
