A year ago, the Chicago Cubs did the unthinkable and poached former Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell to be the manager of their club going forward. Counsell signed a five year, $40 million deal that would pay him an AAV of $8 million while with the Cubs, over twice the $3.5 million salary that he was paid during his final year in Milwaukee in 2023.
What did all that money get Chicago in year one? During his first season with the Cubs, Counsell's team finished the season 83-79, good for 10 games behind the first-place and postseason-bound Brewers.
Counsell and the Cubs have four more years left on his deal to prove to the world that the manager made the right decision to leave for the Windy City. And in his pursuit of a World Series (and bragging rights over his former team), Counsell has decided to go back to the Brewers well for even more coaching help.
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Will Sammon, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic recently reported that the Cubs are hiring yet another Brewers coach to join their staff in Quintin Berry.
"The Chicago Cubs are planning to hire Quintin Berry as their new third-base coach," they wrote, "adding a base-running expert who previously worked with Craig Counsell and the Milwaukee Brewers."
Berry previously worked with the Brewers as their first-base coach. He was largely responsible for the aggressive, yet successful approach to baserunning that the Brewers became notorious for, and which a relatively plodding Cubs team would like to import to Chicago.
Last offseason, the Cubs didn't have much time, if any, to let Counsell pick a coaching staff around him that he was comfortable with; that's what happens when you have to hang around until the end of a postseason run to get your man. Instead, Counsell had to play out the 2024 season with a staff mostly composed of former David Ross hires.
Now, with a full season and offseason under his belt, Counsell will have better control over the staff that's around him heading into the 2025 season. It's just one more reason why the Cubs will have no excuses to not be a playoff team next year. Their front office is set to be very aggressive in free agency this winter, they have plenty of movable trade pieces and Counsell now has a full season with his new team under his belt. It's time for the Cubs to return to the postseason, as you would expect a team to do when their manager is being paid $8 million a year.
