New York Mets Reportedly Never Had a Shot of Hiring Counsell

The Chicago Cubs got their man in Craig Counsell. Their new manager was the most coveted managerial option on the market, and for good reason.

But the fact that Chicago hired him was surprising for a few reasons.

The first is that the Cubs already had a manager under contract in David Ross. Hiring Counsell meant that Chicago had to fire Ross to make room. It was rather unceremonious, but business is business especially when it comes to acquiring the services of a manager like Counsell.

The second is that the entire New York media was nearly certain he was going to the New York Mets. For hours it seemed like a done deal that Counsell would be making his way to Queens.

Except that couldn't have been farther from the truth according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

"Counsell was never, ever going to take the New York Mets’ job. He would have rather sat out a year than move 1,000 miles away from his family in Wisconsin," writes Nightengale in his Sunday column.

"But he used the Mets’ lucrative offer to get a historic five-year, $40 million deal with the Cubs where he can sleep at home most nights, working just 90 miles away."

The fact Counsell was willing to sit out an entire year rather than move to New York City is telling. But for a man who values where he lays his head at night, it makes perfect sense.

And just like the Cubs, Counsell made a great business decision to parlay his offer from the Mets into a historic offer from Chicago, resetting the managerial market in the process.

It's but another interesting tid bit in what has become of the most talked about sagas in the early goings of the MLB winter.