Craig Counsell on tap to be Brewers’ new manager
By Tim Haberin
The Milwaukee Brewers turned some heads Sunday evening when they announced the dismissal of manager Ron Roenicke.
It’s a quick hook for Roenicke, but the Brewers currently sit at the bottom of the National League Central with an MLB-worst 7-18 record. The Brew Crew had actually played better in recent days, winning three of their last four, making the swift and decisive move all the more surprising. In a statement, however, team president Doug Melvin explained that the organization was looking at the bigger picture. “This came together fairly quick,” he said. “You can look at the two or three games and say we played better, but we looked at it how we performed over the entire month and how we performed over the course of the last 100 games.”
Roenicke had certainly enjoyed better times in Milwaukee. In 2011, his first season as skipper, the Brewers captured the division title with a 96-66 record, the best in the franchise’s history. He finishes his tenure with the club with an overall record of 342-331.
According to reports that began circulating shortly after the firing, Milwaukee was close to naming Craig Counsell to the vacant manager’s seat. The team made the hiring official on Monday morning, announcing a three-year deal with the MLB vet through the 2017 season.
Counsell should be a familiar name to baseball fans. He played in the big leagues for 16 years, including two stints with the Brewers (2004, 2007-2011). He collected two championship rings in his career, one in 1997 with the Marlins and the other with the 2001 Diamondbacks during a postseason run in which he also earned the NLCS MVP award. And who could forget that signature quirky batting stance?
After his retirement, Counsell took a front office position with the Brewers, serving as a special advisor to GM Doug Melvin. He must have impressed Melvin enough with his acumen over the past few years to be considered worthy of this responsibility. Counsell becomes the latest in a recent trend of first-time managers who were still active players not too long ago. Others include the Cardinals’ Mike Matheny, White Sox’s Robin Ventura, Tigers’ Brad Ausmus and Rays’ Kevin Cash.
The new skipper will have his work cut out for him. The Brewers have scored a meager 82 runs so far this season, the fourth-worst total in MLB. They haven’t been performing much better on the mound either: their staff’s 4.42 ERA is better than only five other clubs’. Currently 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, Milwaukee needs a turnaround on all fronts, and quickly.
Some, like ESPN.com’s Christina Kahrl, believe that the team’s problems have less to do with its manager and more to do with its underachieving players. She highlights the declining skills of players like Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez as contributors to the Brewers’ faltering fortunes. The club has also failed to find adequate replacements for its former ace (Zack Greinke) and former big bat (Prince Fielder) over the last few years. Current star Carlos Gomez has struggled to remain healthy.
Craig Counsell will set out to prove that he can spark a positive change in the team upon taking the managing reins. If that doesn’t happen promptly, it could a be long summer in Milwaukee and the whispers of “fire sale” will grow louder and louder when the trade deadline approaches.