(670 The Score) Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer praised manager Craig Counsell’s leadership as their club looks to make a late charge for a wild-card berth.
Entering play Tuesday, the Cubs sat 3.5 games behind the Braves for the final National League wild-card berth. The Cubs have gone 9-2 in their past 11 games, though they botched an opportunity to gain more ground when they blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Pirates at Wrigley Field on Monday.
In Hoyer’s mind, Counsell’s demeanor has had a meaningful impact on his players in a season in which the Cubs have disappointed but still believe they can make some noise as the calendar has turned to September.
“He’s very steady throughout the year,” Hoyer said of Counsell on the Mully & Haugh Show on Tuesday morning. “I think that demeanor is real. I think he doesn’t get too high and too low. And I think that kind of builds into something, that he’s not exhausting everyone by constantly going up and down, up and down and having the team worried about him being volatile. And then I do think that he’s very thoughtful throughout the year about workloads and about exhausting guys. It feels like he’s always taking (in) the big picture.”
Hoyer noted that unlike most managers, Counsell doesn’t usually believe the next game is the most important one.
“He’s always kind of looking at the big picture,” Hoyer said. “How do we keep guys rested? How do we think about this week and next week? I think this stuff adds up over the course of the year. It’s little coins in the piggy bank over and over. I think that’s part of why his teams have been able to peak at the right time. It’s because he’s thoughtful in that way throughout the course of the season. He’s not trying to overtax guys in the middle of June or July.
“My hope is that we can continue that trend, but I can see why it happens. Like I said, he’s such a steady influence. I wish fans had the ability to see the way he interacts on a daily basis. They’d be really impressed.”