SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If anyone ever doubted Craig Counsell’s strategic abilities, they can stop now that Counsell got himself a new contract with an annual salary about double that of anyone else currently managing, and that includes all-time great Bruce Bochy, who has four World Series rings.
And not only that but Counsell goes to a historic franchise within driving distance of his home in the Milwaukee suburbs, assuming one can tolerate the Edens Expressway. The only real negative is that it’s the Cubs, who are hated by his neighbors in Whitefish Bay, Wis., and really everyone else within the 414 area code.
I was on record here that the Mets had to get Counsell to manage them. But today, I give them a half a pass on that part of Monday’s crazy managerial equation anyway (but not on all of this, as you’ll see below).
Counsell’s deal goes where no manager has ever gone before, and even I, a charter member of the Craig Counsell fan club, wonder if they overpaid. To outbid the reported 18-time (at least) billionaire Steve Cohen is quite an accomplishment, especially when no one even knew they were in the running. But not everyone thinks it warrants a franchise boast.
“They’re insane,” one rival exec said of Counsell’s $40 million, five-year Cubs contract. “They blew up the market, and for a guy who never won anything.”
I’ll reserve judgment on their sanity until at least Day 2, but say this for Counsell. The man turned Day 1 at the general managers’ meetings here into a news fest, with two of Counsell’s Final Four teams also responding by hiring interesting second choices, with the Guardians bringing in the well-liked but lightly tested former clubhouse cutup Steven Vogt and the Mets moving previously anonymous Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza crosstown to become their surprise hire.
Beyond Counsell, who was his own category and drew calls from the Giants, Astros and Angels in addition to his final four of the Mets, Guardians, Cubs and of course hometown Brewers, Mendoza was the startling belle of the managerial ball. He was pursued by at least three teams — including also the Guardians and Padres — and received widespread praise on the day of hiring.
“I think Carlos Mendoza is going to be a really good manager,” one rival GM said.
That person is in the vast majority, and that’s at least somewhat heartening, but from here the Mets got someone who obviously interviews extremely well but remains completely unproven. To me, if you have an $18 billion war chest, you should make sure to win the battles you can win, not add to their already considerable question marks.
Mendoza may turn out to be a fine hire, but he brings no certainty when the Mets are team that can pony up for that without a pang of pain. Let’s face it, he was the bench coach for a team that had a “disaster” of a season in the words of general manager Brian Cashman, a team that didn’t exactly make the most out of its $275 million payroll.
I’ll give Stearns half a benefit of the doubt today as he made very few bad moves in seven years at the helm of the small-market Brewers. And I get that the Mets determined right up front that they weren’t going to rival Joe Torre’s record salary, which reached close to $8 million while guiding a dynasty. Which didn’t seem unreasonable at the time.
While Counsell is terrific, he’s lost his last six playoff series, unlike Bochy, who wins every playoff series forever and by all rights should probably seek a big fat raise today. What I’d question here is the Mets’ ultimate choice.
The Mets’ managing job is a hard one, as the clear second team in a big city with a history so full of pitfalls and pratfalls that some understandably suggest they are jinxed. That’s one of many reasons I would have prioritized someone with major league managing experience. Their history is so bad with first-time managers that Mickey Calloway may not even be the worst of them.
But if they were fine to go the first-time route as second choice to Counsell, and Stearns was upfront about that possibility from the start, there are other names I would have pursued. They tried Texas bench coach Will Venable but the wise Rangers somehow locked him for themselves, even when they have one of the greatest managers of all time in Bochy as their skipper. And Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, who everyone tells me will be great, wanted to stay in Pittsburgh for family reasons.
Assuming those guys were not gettable, I would have had on my list energetic workaholic Team USA manager Mark DeRosa, more experienced and personable Astros bench coach Joe Espada plus Mets great David Wright, who would have been a publicity grand slam if he’d do it. They are all gambles, especially for a team that’s had only one rookie manager ever succeed (Davey Johnson), but to hire the second fiddle on the bench of their big Bronx brother team that’s coming off a season barely better than their own makes me question why they ever showed Buck Showalter the door in the first place.
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