“If I’m him and they’re offering me $40 million and it’s relatively close to home, it’s like, as much as I’d hate to think of it, if it was me, I would probably take the chance,” Kenealy said. Kenealy said the Cubs’ offer was lucrative enough for her to understand Counsell’s decision. “I’m so high on what we have that I can’t imagine somebody wanting to be somewhere else.” “Definitely not betrayed,” Attanasio replied. Attanasio was asked Monday if he felt betrayed. The Cubs went way beyond that figure by firing David Ross and luring Counsell. “Especially with what Brett meant to the Packers, I think the overwhelming majority of people would still lean toward Brett eventually ending up with the Vikings as the biggest betrayal in Wisconsin sports,” Neitzel said.Īttanasio said the Brewers offered Counsell a deal that would have made him the highest-paid manager in baseball “both per season and the total package.” Attanasio didn’t specify terms, but Cleveland’s Terry Francona was believed to be the highest-paid manager in MLB this past season with a salary of $4.5 million. Gabe Neitzel, a sports talk show host for 94.5 ESPN FM in Milwaukee, said the Favre comparisons have been coming up on his station. Laura Hemming, a partial season ticket holder since the mid-1990s, said the news “felt like kind of a gut punch.”Ĭounsell’s exit represents the latest setback for Wisconsin sports fans the same year that the Green Bay Packers traded four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, though this move to a division foe was more similar to Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre finishing his career with the Minnesota Vikings.Īt least in that instance, Favre spent a season with the New York Jets before heading to Minnesota rather than going directly from the Packers to a division rival. “My initial reaction was, ‘Oh my God, the Cubs? Why did it have to be the Cubs.’ “ “You know in the first ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ movie where they’re digging to find the ark of the covenant and they open this big tomb thing and they look down and Indiana Jones says, ‘Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?’ “ said Kay Kenealy of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a Brewers partial season ticket holder since 2006. The fact he went just 90 miles south to the Brewers’ biggest rival made his exit doubly painful for fans. But as I went through it, it just became clear that I needed a new challenge.” I’m looking forward to being part of a new community and hopefully impact our community well, too. And that’s going to continue, hopefully, because it has nothing to do with baseball, that part of it. “At the same time, look, I’m grateful to be part of this community. “I think as I was going through this process, it became clear that I needed and wanted a new professional challenge,” Counsell said. He took over the Brewers in 2014 and led them to five playoff appearances over the last six seasons.Ĭounsell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday the opportunity for a new professional challenge and the proximity of Chicago made this opportunity appealing. Counsell had two stints with the Brewers in a 16-year playing career and became their winningest manager. His father, John Counsell, was the Brewers’ former director of community affairs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |