The most common way fans and the media judge a manager is based on their in-game tactics. Ultimately, it is the one element that is easiest to observe. There is of course more to a manager’s job and it is clear that Jed Hoyer appreciates the importance of Craig Counsell’s ability to impact the organization in a variety of ways.
Not every piece of information about why decisions are made is always available to the public. But breaking down and discussing in-game moves can be fun. It may be a while before Cubs fans and Chicago media really know how Counsell works, but he did drop some hints about his philosophy on various aspects of the game.
Let’s take a look at some of those ideas and consider how they compare to what we’ve seen with the Cubs this past year.
How he has grown as a manager
“The courage to be yourself is the first thing you learn about leadership,” says Counsell. “It’s really the first thing you should learn about it. It’s not the strategy of the game. It’s not the time to pull out a starter. It is: ‘Do you have the courage to be yourself during this process?’ It’s what you learn first. Early in your career, there’s fearlessness in the way you do things, and that’s a good thing. Young, crazy, there’s that fearlessness that we all had, and some of you hopefully still do. As you get older, with event reps you get experience managing them – whether it’s player conversations, game situations, front office interactions – and they start to guide you a little bit more. Those representatives really help you make those decisions.
‘That’s how I think you get better. You’re trying to get this mix and not lose that fearlessness, but your feeling is better because of all the reps you’ve had. That’s what I think makes you a little bit better at your job, it makes you grow.”
Counsell talked about how he believed the in-game tactics are “learnable by anyone” who puts in the time and is willing to adapt. That’s part of why Hoyer and Theo Epstein hired David Ross. They felt he had mastered the other aspects – running a clubhouse, working well with the front office, and dealing positively with the media. And he had a curiosity and willingness to take his lumps and grow in the role.
Counsell is much further along in the process. That fearlessness he talks about is an integral part of success. He can’t be afraid to try a rookie when a veteran is clearly out of gas. Being criticized after a game by Hoyer or the media or fans should not be a reason not to make a decision. If a player is mad at him for being pulled, it doesn’t matter. None of these should affect the ultimate goal: winning.
Don’t mess up the simple things
It sounds simple enough, but there are some basic principles that a manager shouldn’t let happen. Most will know it when they see it. But the reality is that the decisions that most people get worked up about are often a toss-up. Counsell understands that.
“You’re deciding on some small percentage differences that are very small,” Counsell said. “As long as you make your hard decisions, both the easy ones and the hard ones, you have to make the right decisions. If you have a percentage of 52 to 48, you won’t get all those percentages right. You’ve got to make your layups.
Counsell realizes that the results will not always be to his liking. But as long as the choices he makes aren’t blatantly wrong, he can’t let them consume him. That’s probably still the case, but that’s just the reality of being incredibly competitive and having a high-pressure job at the highest level of the sport. And as difficult as those decisions are, Counsell has shown more than many that he has a knack for getting them right. Those are the little edges Hoyer is looking for with this appointment.
Handling the bullpen
Counsell had a reputation for using his bullpen brilliantly during his nine seasons in Milwaukee. But he also realized that he had a lot of talent.
“Great relievers are great friends for managers on the back end of the game,” Counsell said. “Nobody asks me if I ever want to bring Devin Williams into a game or Josh Hader. You won’t get any questions about that. So I understand that. But I think teams are constructed differently and constructed differently. You use the strengths of your players. Discover their strengths, understand their strengths, and listen to their strengths.”
There is no one way to do this. Just as Carter Hawkins didn’t bring the secret sauce for developing pitching from Cleveland, Counsell doesn’t have a magic potion for creating a consistently great bullpen. But he understands how quickly things change with what most know is a highly volatile unit.
“Every season it’s different,” says Counsell. “It changes from the first day to the 60th day of the season to the 120th day of the season. Probably just to understand that – that it’s always changing, that it’s never the same, that there’s not one rule you can live by in your bullpen – I think that’s the best way to have the opportunity to do it every year to do it successfully.
Ross understood that too. He came into last season with certain expectations from Michael Fulmer, Brad Boxberger, Keegan Thompson, and Brandon Hughes. None of it went according to plan. But he adapted and leaned on Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr., and Adbert Alzolay when it became clear that these were his horses.
Where more experience — remember, Counsell says your gut is better because of all those reps — could have come in handy for Ross was in August and September. Maybe Counsell looks at the schedule and decides it’s time to stop pushing Merryweather and Alzolay, and is willing to take a loss to see what Daniel Palencia can do in a high-leverage role. Maybe if Luke Little gets called up, he’ll give him a bag of lefties in a big moment and give Leiter a breather. And even if it doesn’t work once, maybe that “fearlessness” will allow him to do it again to try to save a group that clearly had nothing left and was pretty much in disarray at the end of the season.
How to press the clutch
Oh, the nerds will love this. When asked by a reporter how to develop timely hitting, Counsell immediately debunked the theory.
“I don’t think you can hit in time,” Counsell said. “You can have hitters who have skills, who put the ball in play a lot. Overall that will give them a better chance, probably a bigger (chance) because the ball will be in play more. But I think we have already come a long way in proving that there is nothing wrong with that.”
Counsell brings up a good point about putting the ball in play. Do that and sometimes crazy things happen. The Cubs had a really bad month – May – with runners in scoring position. But some would tell you it was a weakness. In May, they struck out 28 percent of the time in those situations and had a .285 BABIP. Every other month their BABIP was above .300 and their strikeout rate was even better than in most other situations (it never got higher than 23.1 percent and generally hovered around 20 percent with runners in scoring position).
Overall, the Cubs had the fifth-highest batting average in the game with runners in scoring position on the season. Their weakness was the lack of extra-base hits at those times. It stung them especially late in the season. But timely hitting and powerful hitting are two different things. If Counsell were to ask him that, he would definitely talk about the value of hitting home runs or posting a home run, and how he would like to have a few more players who could do that more often on his roster.
What it takes to win the playoffs
If anyone wanted to talk to Counsell, they’d probably say, “Well, what did he win anyway?” It was the same criticism some had of Joe Maddon when he was hired. You might assume Boston Red Sox fans were saying it about Terry Francona entering the 2004 season. Bruce Bochy wasn’t much of a winner in San Diego. No one is pointing out the fourteen successful seasons and zero playoff wins that Joe Torre had before arriving in The Bronx.
You’re not a winner until you are. But Counsell admits there is something unique about managing the playoffs.
“It’s definitely different,” Counsell said. “One hundred and sixty-two races is a marathon. In our game, the decisions you make during the marathon are rewarded. And players are honestly rewarded during the marathon. In short playoff series, we are lucky in our game. You have less control in very short stints in this game. It forces aggressiveness on managers, I think. The mentality you need to adopt in the playoffs is aggressiveness. You still have to rely on your great players. But with an aggressive mentality.”
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There is definitely a huge amount of luck involved in the game. Anyone who watches it regularly understands that. But over a season you would hope that things would even out. Hard hit balls will be collected and soft grounders will find a hole. But keep doing one or the other and your luck will eventually change, for better or worse.
That changes in the playoffs. A few blind singles can change the course of an entire playoff run. Take a look back and watch the ninth inning of the Cubs’ stunning comeback against the San Francisco Giants in the 2016 National League Division Series. Outside of Ben Zobrist’s hard double, there was a trio of groundball singles through the infield that weren’t hit particularly hard but were incredibly well-placed. That ties into Counsell’s point about the value of playing the ball even with men on base.
When Counsell talk about aggressiveness, it can mean so many different things. Prematurely withdrawing a normally trusted starting pitcher. Banking a regular customer who has been lost for too long. By pushing it onto the basepaths. Leaning on a smaller group of relievers.
Despite winning just one playoff round, the postseason is why Counsell is here. With him at the helm, Hoyer believes this will increase the team’s chances of making the playoffs. If that happens, Counsell might also be able to show how much he’s grown in that area.