A text message from David Ross lit up Craig Counsell’s phone before news broke Nov. 6 that the Cubs were hiring Counsell as their manager and firing Ross to make room for him. Counsell called him immediately.
“I’ve always had great respect for David,” Counsell said at his introductory news conference Monday. “That gave me the ultimate respect for David, the way he handled the conversation. This part of this business is really difficult; it’s really cutthroat. And as a player, I’ve lived it, David’s lived it, every player lives it every day. But I respect the heck out of David Ross.”
The call between the former Cubs manager and their new skipper marked the end of a whirlwind process that brought Counsell to a team that jumped into the running late in the game.
“This process was fast,” Counsell said. “I’ve joked with [general manager] Carter [Hawkins] already that I don’t know much about the Cubs. But I believed in how [president of baseball operations] Jed [Hoyer] sold the vision, absolutely.”
Counsell had been contemplating his next chapter for the last two years. He had spent almost a decade at the helm for the Brewers and had become one of the most well-respected managers in the game. But he wasn’t even sure he wanted his next challenge to be in the manager’s seat.
By the time the Cubs reached out — they waited until Nov. 1 rather than ask the Brewers for permission to interview him while he was under contract — Counsell had an offer from the Brewers in hand, had met with the Guardians and was leaving for New York the next day for an interview with the Mets.
He didn’t pick up Hoyer’s first call, Counsell recalled with a chuckle. But when Counsell called back soon after, they set up a meeting for later that day. Counsell’s free agency was picking up steam, so it couldn’t wait.
“I was interested but cautious,” Counsell said.
He was familiar with the city and with the Cubs’ history, but he wanted to know Hoyer’s evaluation of the current team, player development, the infrastructure behind the front office’s decision-making and the financial investment.
Hoyer walked the tightrope of letting Counsell in on enough of his plan to convince him it was something he wanted to be a part of, but not so much that the Cubs would be in trouble if he ended up with another team.
“The vision that he presented of excitement in where the franchise is at on a big-picture level — we’ve still got to get a lot of decisions right,” Counsell said.
Then, for effect, he turned to Hoyer on his left and added: “Got to get a lot right still. But it’s a really healthy place to start.”
Counsell, who was in the rare position of a manager being courted by teams and not the other way around, decided the division rival 90 miles down the road would be his next challenge.
“It’s been an emotional week, no bones about it,” he said. “Much harder than I imagined. Just the speed at which this happened. And 17 years of relationships, that hits you hard.”
Counsell’s wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Finley and Rowan, sat in the front row at the news conference. Counsell joked he hoped his sons, Brady and Jack, were in class. Both are Big Ten baseball players — at Minnesota and Michigan, respectively.
Before Counsell’s remarks, Hoyer presented him with a pinstripe jersey. Counsell pulled it over his white button-down shirt and uttered two words both parties hope will characterize their new union: “Feels good.”
