After the 2023 MLB season, Craig Counsell made the shocking decision to not only leave the Milwaukee Brewers, but also join the Chicago Cubs on the richest deal for a manager in MLB history. We can talk about the optics of Counsell ditching the Brewers for their biggest rivals, but the latest rumor involving Milwaukee hints at a possible reason as to why Counsell felt like jumping ship was the best decision for his future.
Brewers ace Freddy Peralta made a list made by ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel highlighting the top 50 MLB trade candidates. Now, Passan and McDaniel only gave Peralta a 20 percent chance of actually getting dealt, but the fact that he's on this list to begin with shows why Counsell had enough with Milwaukee.
A Freddy Peralta trade would signal the Brewers waving the white flag
Why the Brewers would trade Peralta is obvious - they can get a ton for him. The trade deadline market projects to favor sellers due to a lack of teams willing to trade proven MLB talent right now, and Peralta would immediately become the best starting pitcher available. His contract ($8 million this season, $8 million club option for 2026), is incredibly team-friendly and one that all 30 teams can afford.
The Brewers can get a ridiculous haul back for Peralta, but does that justify trading him? Milwaukee is 43-36 on the year, sitting just 3.5 games back of Counsell's Cubs for first place in the NL Central, and the Brewers also currently are tied for the third Wild Card spot in the NL.
Milwaukee is a team right in the thick of a postseason race, and Peralta, their ace who has a 2.76 ERA in 16 appearances this season, is a huge reason why. He's having an All-Star-caliber campaign leading a really strong Brewers staff. I get that they can get a lot for him, but you just don't trade stars in the middle of a postseason race. Why would any manager want to be involved with an organization willing to even entertain the thought of trading Peralta while sitting in a postseason spot?
Brewers have made this mistake before
Counsell has seen the Brewers make this mistake firsthand. At the 2022 trade deadline, the Brewers were sitting in first place when they traded Josh Hader, who also had an additional year of club control, to the San Diego Padres. The return wound up helping them land William Contreras, but the 2022 Brewers collapsed, finishing in second place in the NL Central and missing the postseason entirely.
If the Brewers trade Peralta mainly for prospects as they did with Hader in 2022, they'd be essentially giving up on this season and potentially 2026 as well. That's not a good thing for the manager currently in the dugout.
Craig Counsell wants to win right now
Trading Peralta for prospects might prove to be a smart decision down the line. The Brewers are a smart organization, and could easily flip part of the return they get in exchange for a game-changing player like Contreras. It might be smart for the organization to sell high on Peralta while they can, knowing it's unlikely he stays in MIlwaukee past 2026 anyway.
Still, how is this a good thing for a manager who wants to win right now? I get that the Brewers are a small-market team and they can't pay everybody, but if the Brewers are going to consider trading their stars while the team is in a playoff spot just for contractual reasons, what's the point of managing that team? The organization has a chance to win right now by adding at the deadline, but they're considering going in the opposite direction.
The Cubs might not be spending as much as Cubs fans want them to, but they were willing to take a big risk and trade for Kyle Tucker in the final year of his deal. They might fall short, and Tucker might leave after one year, but at least they went all-in. We've yet to see the Brewers do that, and have only seen them do the opposite of that. It's hard to blame Counsell for wanting to be with an organization willing to go all-in instead of Milwaukee.