Mets reportedly interviewing Brewers manager Craig Counsell for same vacancy

Will Craig Counsell follow David Stearns from the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Mets?

New York will interview Counsell, Milwaukee’s manager over the past nine years, for its managerial vacancy, ESPN reported Wednesday. Counsell’s contract is set to expire next week and the Brewers have reportedly given the Mets permission to meet with the 53-year-old skipper.

Stearns was hired last month as the Mets’ first president of baseball operations, which instantly made Counsell an expected target to manage the club. The former Brewers president made Counsell his manager in Milwaukee early in the 2015 season. Counsell subsequently guided the Brew Crew to three NL Central titles and five playoff appearances in the past six seasons.

The Mets, meanwhile, are coming off a disastrous 2023 campaign. One year removed from winning 101 games, the Mets were out of the playoff picture at the MLB trade deadline and became sellers, moving the likes of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Tommy Pham, among others. They then parted ways with manager Buck Showalter after just two seasons.

The Brewers won the NL Central in 2023 but were then swept by the Diamondbacks in a best-of-three wild-card series. Their best season under Counsell came in 2018, when they reached the National League Championship Series and lost in seven games to the Dodgers.

Counsell has compiled a 707-625 record in Milwaukee.

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