Report: Houston Interested in Interviewing Craig Counsell

Craig Counsell is receiving more attention this week than Taylor Swift.

Well, maybe not quite, but not surprisingly, Counsell continues to garner interest from teams with vacant managerial positions.

Houston is the latest team to enter the Counsell sweepstakes, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as they have reportedly expressed interest in interviewing him for their managerial vacancy, created by the retirement of Dusty Baker following the conclusion of the Astros’ most-recent postseason run.

Andy Martino of SNY is reporting that Houston has not yet officially scheduled an interview with Counsell, nor have the Mets officially interviewed him. Cleveland is the only organization to conduct a formal interview with Counsell at this point.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network previously reported that the coveted free-agent manager has already engaged in direct conversations with the Mets and Cleveland.

Houston’s highly-successful track record may present the Mets with their biggest challenge in luring Counsell to Flushing.  The Astros are a perennial powerhouse, having advanced to the ALCS for seven consecutive seasons.  Counsell is interested in pursuing opportunities to win a World Series as a manager; an achievement twice attained during his playing days with the 1997 Marlins and 2001 Diamondbacks.

The Mets, conversely, have only qualified for the playoffs once (2022) in the last seven seasons and have only one playoff victory in the last eight seasons.

According to the New York Post, Counsell is considering the Mets because he and his wife sincerely enjoy the New York atmosphere (despite his Midwestern roots), his relationship with president of baseball operations David Stearns, from their time together in Milwaukee, and the potential to restructure the market for managerial salaries, attributed to Steve Cohen’s generosity and wallet size.

Counsell, 53, won 707 games as the Milwaukee manager from 2015-2023, and qualified for the playoffs four consecutive seasons, from 2018-2021.

Houston, like Milwaukee, is a perennial playoff contender. The Mets are not. Would Counsell want more of a “sure thing” or the challenge and the lure of reuniting with Stearns in order to elevate the Mets to that same degree of sustained success?

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