Brewers seeking 'the best human' to fill manager vacancy

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy is “in very real discussion” to be the team’s next manager after the departure of his longtime pupil and partner Craig Counsell, Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said Wednesday from the General Managers Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Murphy, who turns 65 later this month, was Counsell’s college coach at Notre Dame and became Counsell’s bench coach with the Brewers in 2016, when Counsell was going into his first full season at the helm in Milwaukee.

Asked what qualities he was looking for in the next manager, Arnold said, “I want to start with the best human, is probably the way I would characterize it. It’s hard to go wrong when you have, if you’re using the scouting scale, an ‘80’ human. I think that would be our priority here.”

Arnold added further context to Murphy’s status after Brewers owner Mark Attanasio announced earlier in the week that all of the Brewers’ coaches were under contract for next season. If Murphy isn’t the Brewers’ next manager, then whoever gets that job will have an opportunity to choose his own bench coach, which is almost always the case when teams bring in a skipper.

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And if Murphy isn’t the next manager’s pick for that post, then Murphy “will absolutely have a home here with the Brewers,” Arnold said.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Murphy would follow Counsell to Chicago in that scenario.

Murphy played four years of Minor League baseball before Notre Dame hired him ahead of the 1988 collegiate season. It was in Murphy’s second season that Counsell arrived on campus, beginning a relationship that continued as Counsell went off to play pro ball, and Murphy went on to be head coach at Arizona State before the Padres hired him in 2010, first as a special assistant and then as a Minor League manager beginning in 2011. In '15, Murphy was managing San Diego’s Triple-A team when Counsell tried to hire him away as bench coach; the Padres denied permission and eventually elevated Murphy to interim manager in the Majors later that season.

The following year, Murphy joined Counsell’s staff and he’s been in Milwaukee ever since. He suffered a heart attack in 2020 during so-called “summer camp” as teams readied for the pandemic-shortened schedule, but Murphy recovered fully and has not endured any health-related absences since.

Arnold declined to name any of the Brewers’ other internal candidates who have already interviewed for the job beyond Murphy. Former infielder Rickie Weeks, now a Brewers special assistant, is believed to be one of them. Arnold also declined to talk about any outside candidates, saying only that it is “a really long list.”

Wednesday marked the GM’s first comments on the matter since Counsell stunned the baseball world on Monday by going to the Cubs. The Brewers knew there would be a possibility Counsell manages elsewhere beginning next year, and they had quietly assembled a list of managerial candidates just in case. But no one saw the Cubs coming.

“It’s been a lot,” Arnold said of the past few days.

Counsell has taken his share of criticism for the move to a division rival -- one which had indicated in October it was sticking with its manager at the time, David Ross. Arnold didn’t join that chorus of critics, however. He and Counsell grew close after Arnold came to the organization as assistant GM in 2015 and moved into Counsell’s neighborhood in Whitefish Bay, Wis., where they sometimes meet in the offseason for walks to talk baseball and catch up. They had a long conversation on Monday after Counsell informed the Brewers he was going to Chicago.

“I think it’s really important for us to put people first,” Arnold said. “I think in this situation, we put Craig first throughout the process and I’m thrilled for him and his outcome. At the same time, we’re in a position where we have to put our best foot forward, and we’re going to do exactly that.

“He’s got a new opportunity that he’s excited about, and I think, honestly, we’re excited about our opportunity as well. … Craig has an opportunity and so do we. We’re going to take a fresh look at everything that we’ve done. We’ve had a lot of success here and I think Craig is part of that, but Craig is not the only part of that. Our franchise has been successful because of a lot of people.”