Longtime Milwaukee Brewers Manager to Take Another Interview This Offseason

It was already known that longtime Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell is going to interview for the New York Mets managerial opening. Now, the Cleveland Guardians have gotten permission to speak with him as well.

The Cleveland Guardians have been given permission to interview Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell. We heard on Thursday that they wanted to speak with him, but it's been officially approved now.

There's a few things going on here:

1) Counsell's contract with the Brewers is up at the end of the month. The team could have denied the Guardians the right to speak with him - but only until the end of the month. Therefore, it's rather pointless to do it considering he could set up the interview himself in just a few days.

2) We already know that Counsell is going to interview with the New York Mets as well. He's been linked to that job for weeks since David Stearns is running the show there now. He had worked with Counsell in Milwaukee for years.

3) We don't know which way Counsell is leaning. He may very well be interested in these jobs, but he could also be using the interviews as leverage against the Brewers in an effort to get money. Several reports have indicated he takes pride in raising the payment bar for managers, and this could be part of that.

Counsell has managed the Brewers since 2015 and has been to the playoffs five times.

A former player, Counsell spent parts of 16 years in the big leagues with the Rockies, Marlins, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Brewers. He won the World Series in 1997 with the Marlins and in 2001 with the D'Backs.

He was a lifetime .255 hitter.

Once the World Series starts, you likely won't see hires made, so it seems fair to expect we won't know anything on Counsell's future for at least a week.

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