CHICAGO \u2014 As the Saturday afternoon crowd of 36,189 cheered a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Chicago Cubs, Craig Counsell looked up from the home dugout toward the press box high atop Wrigley Field. The quick glance appeared to be the manager\u2019s subtle way of saying: Told you so.<\/p>\n
Counsell, being Counsell, declined to confirm that he looked in the direction of the press box, so he certainly wasn\u2019t going to start gloating in the interview room after the 4-2 win over the reeling New York Mets that showed how his team is built.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it works,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n
The momentum shifted when Mets manager Carlos Mendoza pulled Freddy Peralta, with two outs and two runners on in the sixth inning, and brought lefty reliever Brooks Raley into a 1-1 game with designated hitter Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros due up next.<\/p>\n
In turn, Counsell substituted Carson Kelly, a promising rookie who was the topic du jour during the manager\u2019s pregame media briefing, for the left-handed-hitting Ballesteros.<\/p>\n
Right on cue, Kelly hammered the first pitch he saw into the left-field bleachers, delivering the big swing in a victory that extended New York\u2019s losing streak to 10 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always prepared,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cYou\u2019re expected to be ready when your name\u2019s called.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is a particular point of emphasis for Counsell and a coaching staff that is working with a deeper group of position players this season while simultaneously dealing with the current rash of injuries on the pitching side.<\/p>\n
Counsell became visibly annoyed during Saturday\u2019s pregame media session when someone asked when he would \u201ctake the training wheels off\u201d with Ballesteros and give him a chance to develop against left-handed pitchers.<\/p>\n
That metaphor was in reference to Friday\u2019s 12-4 win, which saw Ballesteros lift a three-run homer off Mets starter Kodai Senga and then get replaced in the fifth inning by pinch-hitter Matt Shaw as Counsell played the percentages against Sean Manaea, a left-handed long reliever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a team,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to put players in positions to have success. That trumps the other thing. Now, at some point, if the team doesn\u2019t provide a better option, then maybe we do something different. But that was not a hard decision. There\u2019s no training wheels there. This is a team that we\u2019re trying to win games with, and we\u2019re going to go with the best matchups.\u201d<\/p>\n
The specific example illustrated a much larger idea about how the roster was constructed for a 162-game season with flexibility and versatility in mind, allowing Counsell to be more aggressive with those in-game moves.<\/p>\n
Shaw, a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie third baseman last year, is growing into his super-utility role now that Alex Bregman has taken over at his old position. Michael Conforto, a left-handed hitter who had once been an All-Star with the Mets, is at the stage of his career where he\u2019s comfortable being a role player.<\/p>\n
In Kelly and Miguel Amaya, the Cubs have two starting-caliber catchers, plus Ballesteros as a third option behind the plate. Within the clubhouse, buy-in has not been an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiggy and (Kelly) support each other so well,\u201d winning pitcher Jameson Taillon said after his quality start against the Mets. \u201cThey\u2019re happy for each other\u2019s success. No egos.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in-game decisions provide constant fodder for fans and the media, being a good manager means being right maybe 54 percent of the time with those maneuvers. The real scope of the job is so much wider than figuring out who should pitch in the sixth inning. It\u2019s managing personalities, fostering collaboration between different groups and projecting a certain image every day for a multibillion-dollar franchise.<\/p>\n
Players don\u2019t always like what Counsell has to say, but he has a reputation for being a direct and open communicator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no other way,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cEveryone wants to play every day. Nobody wants to get pinch-hit for. But when you just kind of know what\u2019s on the table, and you know it\u2019s consistent and it\u2019s done for the sake of the team, I think it\u2019s pretty easy to get on board with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsell also consistently praises this group for its strong instincts and high baseball IQ. Things run smoother when the players are in tune with the game and thinking along with the manager. In theory, there should be fewer surprises.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the ability to match up in the middle of the game and then continue to have the flexibility,\u201d Cubs outfielder Ian Happ. \u201cEspecially in that DH spot, Carson comes up to face the lefty, but then you have Conforto on the bench if there\u2019s a righty later in the game, if we get in a spot where we\u2019re facing Devin Williams or (Luke) Weaver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeck of a job managing there. The pinch-hit, three-run homer, that\u2019s a good day for the manager.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 As the Saturday afternoon crowd of 36,189 cheered a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Chicago Cubs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,24,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-678794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}