Craig Counsell is already mulling over his future as a manager in Major League Baseball and the New York Mets are firmly at the forefront.
Per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, Counsell has already spoken with the Mets as well as the Cleveland Guardians about their vacant managerial positions and will begin “evaluating his options.” That includes returning to the Milwaukee Brewers, his hometown team that he’s managed for the past nine seasons.
The Mets and Guardians received permission to speak with the 53-year-old skipper a week before his contract with the Brewers ran out on Wednesday. Cleveland’s Terry Francona retired after a 23-year managerial career which included 11 with the Guardians while New York fired Buck Showalter after just two seasons.
Showalter was shown the door on the final day of the regular season, just one day before Stearns was officially introduced as the Mets’ first-ever president of baseball operations. The new head honcho of New York’s front office has made it known that he wants to bring on a manager who can grow with him — and Counsell has certainly fit that mold.
Stearns was the general manager and president of baseball operations throughout Counsell’s time with the Brewers, which included five postseason appearances in the last six years.
It would take a lot to lure Counsell away from Milwaukee, which already made an offer following the end of its season. But according to Jon Heyman and Mike Puma of the New York Post, his interest in the Mets is “serious.”
But there appears to be at least one other team — and they’re a juggernaut — looming. According to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Houston Astros are a suitor for Counsell after Dusty Baker retired following his team’s ALCS defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers.
