After blowing a 3-2 lead while coming home in the Championship Series, Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker announced he was hanging up his coat and retiring.
This decision immediately ignited the baseball world, which is still trying to find out who will replace the dean of the MLB.
And now a new name is added to the list of candidates of interest to the Texan team, that of the renowned Craig Counsell, who is already attracting interest from the New York Mets and the Cleveland Guardians.
Even if the window closes somewhat on the Astros in terms of their chances of winning major honors, they will remain competitive, hence the importance of hiring a skipper of Counsell’s caliber.
The latter’s contract with the Milwaukee Brewers officially ended yesterday (Tuesday), making him fully available to be hired by another team starting today.
It’s a safe bet that Counsell will become the highest-paid manager in all of MLB, certainly earning more than the average annual salary of $4.5 million that Terry Francona had with the Guardians.
When it comes to money, the Mets are of course the first organization that comes to mind, but we shouldn’t leave the Astros out of the equation.
The search for the club’s new manager has not yet officially begun, but the names of manager Joe Espada and former Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus are also surfacing.
File to be followed closely in the coming days, but if the decision of the principal concerned may take several weeks.
Note also that for their part, the Brewers have started steps to replace Counsell, if necessary.
