Wild day for the Brewers. And not a good one for their future

I'm catching up from a week off of work, getting ready for other work, and then I see a couple of notifications from MLB float across my phone.

Free at ESPN: The news story on Cleveland hiring Stephen Vogt to replace Terry Francona as its manager. Vogt, sources told ESPN, received a three-year deal. More details on the hiring here: https://t.co/dAiT85BrVz

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 6, 2023

The Mets are hiring Carlos Mendoza as their next manager pic.twitter.com/UPQz7N48zT

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) November 6, 2023

Both of these were places Brewers manager Craig Counsell had interviewed at, with permission from the team. So I figured "Hey, maybe Craig is coming back here for 2024 and beyond". Which would be great, as the Brewers have more playoff appearances in the last 6 years under Counsell than they had in the 48 years before then. And a Brewers beat writer said the team had put in a huge offer to keep Counsell.

Going along with our reporting from last week, another source familiar with the situation has confirmed that the Brewers have - and have had for quite some time - an offer on the table that would make Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in MLB.

— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) November 6, 2023

I was letting my hopes keep me from seeing that post as the "we tried" PR move from the team that it was. Within 5 minutes, I saw this.

Craig Counsell will manage next season, but NOT the Brewers or Mets, sources tell @TheAthletic. He is heading to a team with an existing manager. Mets hiring Carlos Mendoza, per @Joelsherman1 and @JonHeyman

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 6, 2023

I wasn't buying it, but I rifled through my mind which teams that might be. I figured it would be one with more resources than the Brewers, and one that could win sooner than later. But this one wasn't on my list.

Cubs hiring Counsell, sources tell @TheAthletic

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 6, 2023

Counsell getting five-year contract from Cubs worth more than $40M, league sources tell @TheAthletic. Will be highest-paid manager.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 6, 2023

I get taking the job that offers you more money and more resources to build your team. But when you've grown up in Wisconsin (like Craig Counsell did), and been a part of the Brewers organization for the last 15 years of your career, how can you pick up one day and go to the team's largest in-division rival? It's an absolute slap in the face to Brewers fans, and those Brewers-Cubs games at AmFam Field are going to be an ugly atmosphere.

And losing the best manager the team ever had sure makes the Brewers look silly as they ask for hundreds of millions of dollars to fix up their ballpark as a way of staying "competitive". But they're definitely still trying.

Here's an inside look at AmFam Field's maintenance issues. It may change a senator's vote https://t.co/7TDpM2jyGY via @journalsentinel

— TomDaykin (@TomDaykin) November 6, 2023

I don't see a Committee vote or hearing on the Brewers bill this week, and after losing their manager and having one of their best pitchers undergo serious shoulder surgery, it's hard to be enthusiastic about anything Crew-related right now.

So maybe it's a good time to have the talks go on behind the scenes for a few weeks, and maybe the anger from today's events will have faded enough that discussing this taxpayer-funded assistance for Milwaukee's baseball team won't seem inappropriate. Because right now it's about the worst time for the team to be asking for help, given that their prospects of success seem much smaller than it did a month ago.