Former Milwaukee Brewers' Manager Almost Went to Cleveland Guardians, Per Reports

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, if former Milwaukee Brewers' manager Craig Counsell didn't end up with the Chicago Cubs, he was going to manager the Cleveland Guardians.

In his Sunday Notebook, USA Today Insider Bob Nightengale had an interesting revelation regarding Chicago Cubs' manager Craig Counsell.

– If the Chicago Cubs did not pursue and hire manager Craig Counsell, friends say he was planning to go to Cleveland to replace Terry Francona. 

The Cubs ended up moving on from David Ross in order to hire Counsell and the Guardians ended up pivoting to hire Stephen Vogt, but that's certainly a saucy anecdote. 

Counsell was clearly the most sought-after manager on the market, getting an eight-year, $40 million deal from the Cubs. The fact that they fired a well-liked manager in Ross to get him also shows how desirable he was as a candidate.

Counsell managed the Brewers for nine seasons, posting six winning records. He led Milwaukee to the playoffs on five separate occasions and got them to the NLCS in 2018. 

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.

As for Vogt, he got the Guardians job after spending just one year as the bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners. He had a lengthy playing career with multiple organizations, but spent much of his best years with the Oakland Athletics.

Francona managed three different organizations (Phillies, Red Sox, Guardians), taking both Boston and Cleveland to the playoffs. He took Cleveland to the World Series in 2016 but won two titles with the Red Sox (2004 and 2007).

He finished his career with 1,950 wins, which is 13th all-time. He had the third-most wins among active managers last year (behind Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy). Baker and Francona both announced their retirements at the end of the season.

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