Mets Rumors: Craig Counsell's Cubs Contract 'Significantly Higher' Than NYM's Offer

The Chicago Cubs were willing to make Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in Major League Baseball history, and the New York Mets reportedly weren't.

According to Will Sammon of The Athletic, the Cubs' offer for their new manager "was significantly higher than what the Mets were offering him." Sammon noted that "some of that difference can be attributed to the belief that he held only mild interest in coming to the Mets in comparison to joining the Cubs."

The Cubs announced they fired David Ross and hired Counsell on Monday, and ESPN's Jeff Passan noted they made him the league's highest-paid manager in history with a richer contract than the one Joe Torre previously had of approximately $8 million per year.

New York wasn't the only team unwilling to pay Counsell that much, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the Milwaukee Brewers' offer for their former manager was approximately half of what Chicago offered.

The Mets ended up hiring New York Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza as their new manager, per Passan.

Monday's flurry of managerial news was particularly shocking in terms of the Cubs, as they did not have an opening until they decided to fire Ross. While Ross will surely be remembered fondly by Chicago fans for his role as a veteran leader on the 2016 team that won the World Series and broke a championship drought of 108 years, he was just 262-284 in four years as manager.

The Cubs also collapsed down the stretch of the 2023 campaign and went 6-14 during a 20-game sequence in September. That was a major reason they missed the playoffs after playing well for extended stretches.

Chicago's addition of Counsell not only gives it a highly regarded manager but also hurts a division rival in the Brewers, who will now have to turn elsewhere.

Counsell was 707-625 in nine seasons at the helm in Milwaukee and made the playoffs five times in the last six years. The Brewers also came within one win of a World Series appearance when they lost Game 7 of the 2018 National League Championship Series.

His teams often overachieved against other franchises with higher payrolls and won the National League Central in two of the last three years.

Now he will attempt to win the division with another team.