Not that you would be wondering about whether the hand-picked, extremely-well-paid manager in his firsꦗt year is still in favor with the team president who sprinted to hire him, but just in case you were: yes, Jed Hoyer is still happy with Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
“He’s very steady throughout the year,” . “I think that demeanor is real. I think he doesn’t get too high and too low. And I think that kind of builds into something, that he’s not exhausting everyone by constantly going up and down, up and down and having the team worried about him being volatile.”
Volatile is certainly not something anyone would accuse Craig Counsell of being. Heck, I’d say that Counsell is even more even keel than famously chill manager Joe Maddon. Though we sometimes wish he would show a little more fire in-game, mostly it’s a good thing to have a steady demeanor over the course of a 162-game season.
As is thinking big picture about player health, something I have definitely 💟noticed under Counsell this season.
“And then I do think that (Counsell is) very thoughtful throughout the year about workloads and about exhausting guys,” Hoyer said. “It feels like he’s always taking (in) the big picture …. How do we keep guys rested? How do we think about this week and next week? I think this stuff adds up over the course of the year. It’s little coins in the piggy bank over and over. I think that’s part of why his teams have been able to peak at the right time. It’s because he’s thoughtful in that way throughout the course of the season. He’s not trying to overtax guys in the middle of June or July.”
I don’t think that was an explicit reference to David Ross, by the way, even though he arguably taxed the late-innings relief group more in June and July last year than was necessary (lotta usage of key guys in games/situations that didn’t warrant it). We saw how that wound up costing the Cubs down the stretch, though it’s important to note that it was as much about not having enough bullpen depth in the first place as it was about key guys wearing down or getting hurt.
So, regardless of how things finish out from here for the Cubs – and it doesn’t look great – Hoyer will regard Counsell’s season a kind of success. I think I’ll be very curious to see what changes are made on the coaching staff after the season, and whether Counsell brings in some more of his own choices to fill various roles, given the opportunity for a full search and interview process. That was an option he didn’t have last year because of the timing of his own hiring.
It bears noting here, too, that Hoyer is reportedly safe for 2025. So his pairing with Counsell will continue for another year, making it all the better that Hoyer is happy with his managerial choice. Had there been friction there after just one year, it would’ve made the situation with the Cubs right now all the more messy.
