After Craig Counsell shocked the baseball universe by signing a record-setting $40 million deal to become the Chicago Cubs manager, the prevailing sentiment among the fraternity of managers and coaches who watched him jump from the Milwaukee Brewers to the North Side was: It's about damn time.
In the years ahead, we might look back at Counsell's lucrative foray into free agency as the first landmark in a managerial financial revolution, though it would be a long time in the making. There are already predictions in the industry that some managers won't be so quick to sign the team-friendly deals that have been commonplace over the past two decades, and instead will be more inclined to let their contracts expire and consider all offers, to build upon the effort they feel Counsell made for himself, and also for them.
This has been a conversation among a lot of managers in recent weeks. On Tuesday morning, one manager answered his phone, as if he had been waiting for the call, with one word: "Money."
"He has reset salaries for managers," said another of Counsell's peers. "This system we've had has been ridiculous."
It seems unlikely that any current manager will speak frankly, and publicly, out of concern over picking a fight with their front office bosses. A number, though, spoke on background in the aftermath of Counsell's deal and privately applauded the course he took, and outlined what it has revealed to the rest of them. "It was a great day for managers, because the Chicago Cubs showed what Craig Counsell's value is to their franchise, as the face of their franchise," said another of Counsell's brethren.