As Craig Counsell headed into manager free agency this month, two objectives stood at the top of his wish list: kickstart what had been a fallow financial market for managers and coaches and to honor his Midwestern roots. Only the Cubs could satisfy those two objectives. That is why he is the Chicago manager today.
The results of managerial manic Monday—Counsell to the Cubs, David Ross out of a job in Chicago, Carlos Mendoza to the Mets and Stephen Vogt to the Guardians—seemed shocking in the staccato burst of news. Counsell to the Cubs seemed like the biggest shock of all. But based on Counsell’s roots and desire to get to free agency in the first place, the result makes perfect sense.
The Cubs knew this, which is why they placed a call to him on the first day he was a free agent.
