Despite Craig Counsell's departure to Cubs, there's no hard feelings from Brewers players

This weekend will mark nearly six months to the exact day that Craig Counsell signed on to manage the Chicago Cubs. To mark the occasion, the team Counsell left in free agency this November will pay him a visit.

As the Milwaukee Brewers kick off a weekend series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday, it will be the first time Counsell faces off against his old team as a manager.

In the public realm of southeastern Wisconsin, Counsell's decision to head south 90 miles on Interstate 94 is still a contentious topic, but if you ask his former players who are still with Milwaukee, there’s no question of where the clubhouse stands.

“Frustration, it’s not even close to that,” said Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff.

Woodruff, who debuted in the major leagues under Counsell in 2017, has spent more years as a player in Milwaukee than anyone else currently in the organization. The next-longest tenured big-league Brewer, Christian Yelich, shares similar sentiments about Counsell.

“It’s just part of professional sports. It just happens,” said Yelich, who played six seasons for Counsell from 2018 to 2023, said. “He reached free agency as one of, if not the, best manager in the sport and reaped the benefits for it. A lot of the guys in this locker room share that same sentiment.

“We’re still going to be friends for a long time.”

Whether the relationship between the fans in Counsell’s hometown and the former manager himself eventually gets repaired to that same level is to be seen. For now, the wound is still fresh.

That’s understandable, Yelich says.

“Look, I understand where the fans are coming from,” Yelich said. “I get it with the rivalry and all that. I mean, (Cubs fans) hate me. So, like, I get it. It’s totally fine. I understand sports fans are passionate on both sides and across all sports. It’s just how it is. ‘Couns’ understands that. But at the same time, it’s part of sports.”

Yelich almost certainly isn’t going over to the north side of Chicago anytime soon – his contract with the Brewers runs through 2028 – but would expect a similar response to what Counsell has received from Milwaukee if he did.

“If I did the same thing,”Yelich said, “I understand that I would get the same reaction.”

When Counsell called Woodruff to tell his former all-star pitcher he was leaving for Chicago after the news came out via social media, Woodruff told him he was happy for him, had no problems with the move but was surprised by it.

“I was just like, ‘I wasn’t expecting the Cubs,’” Woodruff said. “Those were my exact words. Which, he knew that was going to be the reaction.”

Counsell said at his introductory press conference in Chicago that he underestimated the reaction going to Chicago would generate, but nevertheless it was that reaction that Woodruff thinks, that made the move challenging for the former Whitefish Bay High standout.

“I think that was probably the most difficult choice he’s ever had to make,” Woodruff said. “Because he knew what was going to come of it."

Both Yelich and Woodruff went onto explain how, from a player’s perspective, there is always an understanding when someone in the game signs with another team in an effort to do what’s best for their family.

“It’s no different, I think, than if you were a free agent as a player and you went to a rival team,” Yelich said. “It doesn’t change what you did at your previous place. It’s just a new chapter in your life. He was extremely well-compensated for that move and it made sense for him and his family.”

Yelich hopes that, when the dust settles, Brewers fans will be able to appreciate Counsell’s time in Milwaukee and what the team accomplished under the franchise’s all-time managerial wins leader.

“Obviously it’s still fresh and there’s passion but hopefully the farther you get from it, people will still appreciate what he did. This wasn’t a spite move. This wasn’t an ‘I’m going to stick it in your face and go here. It’s just how the business of the sport works. Hopefully, the farther we are removed from it, people still appreciate what he did here and all we were able to accomplish as a group.

“We obviously didn’t win a World Series but there’s still been a pretty high level of success and winning here. That’s extremely hard to do in this sport and shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers players have no hard feelings about Craig Counsell leaving