Top Managerial Candidate Never Intended to Take New York Mets Job
It was never going to happen.
The New York Mets and president of baseball operations David Stearns had Craig Counsell at the top of their wishlist in their managerial search.
However, Counsell took the Chicago Cubs job, landing a massive record-setting five-year, $40 million deal.
The Mets were never going to match this offer, and it seems that Counsell did not intend to leave the midwest.
Well, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, 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."
Nightengale went on to report that Counsell used the Mets' lucrative offer to gain leverage in order to land the huge deal he got with the Cubs.
This isn't the first time something like this has occurred during the Steve Cohen era. As long as Cohen, the multi billionaire, has the largest wallet in the game, players and managers will use his money to get what they want elsewhere.
The Mets instead pivoted to hiring New York Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza.
Mendoza, 43, is a first time manager, which is a risk considering the Mets are onto their fifth manager since 2018.
Time will tell whether missing out on Counsell will hurt, or if hiring Mendoza was the right move. But in the very least, Counsell never planned to come to Queens.
