Sept. 1
... the kind of bullpen catalyst Counsell specializes in developing and empowering.
... he's a walking affirmation of the staying power of Counsell's capacity for turning rookies into relief aces.
...Hodge's breakout season is a testament to the value of their manager,
Hi Matt,
I've been reading your articles for several months now - and I'd like to get your overall evaluation.
Besides the two pitchers you mentioned in this article - Hader and Williams,
what are the other rookies that Counsell turned "into relief aces"?
I'm not being sarcastic , I just don't follow baseball nearly as closely as most on this site - so I truly don't know. Thanks.
If a coach or manager has this kind of ability - wouldn't he be worth even more than the $40M that the Cubs are
paying him? Hader has been paid $44M over the last 3 years and Williams $7M this year. So, one might say
that Counsell has developed more than $50M of pitching value via these two pitchers alone.
Are there other managers/coaches who can do this? Are there others who can do similar things for
starting pitchers, hitters? Who are they?
Assuming all this is true, it seems inconsistent with some of your previous articles -
1) perhaps Counsell is past his prime
2) Counsell is not responsible for the future performance of the bullpen
3) Counsell is responsible for the "failed" Morel experiment
4) Counsell's challenge process is inferior
How do we square all this? Is Counsell invaluable - or when considering his deficiencies
is he merely human :) ?
