Brewers will reportedly name Craig Counsell manager

It appears the Brewers next manager will be former player Craig Counsell, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

The Brewers fired Ron Roenicke from the position earlier in the night, but opted not to reveal who their next manager would be. Instead, they have a 10:30 AM CT press conference for Monday where they will name someone to the position.

Of course, we have the internet and news always seems to somehow break a little bit earlier than teams usually plan for. Such appears to be the case here. After Roenicke was fired, Counsell became the source of plenty of speculation. Now 44, Counsell retired as a player following the 2011 season and has been acting as a special assistant to GM Doug Melvin since.

Hiring Counsell will give the Brewers a local flavor to the coaching staff. Counsell was raised in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and attended high school there before playing at Notre Dame in college. He played for the Brewers for six seasons, first coming over for the 2004 season as part of the package the Brewers received from the Diamondbacks in return for Richie Sexson.

After the 2004 season, he went back to Arizona for two years, then came back to Milwaukee for the final half-decade of his career. Counsell obviously has no managerial experience, but has 16 years of major league playing time and has remained in baseball since retirement. The fact he has stuck around with the Brewers also means he'll have more of a familiarity with the team. That said, he'll likely need to rely some on more veteran coaches like Jerry Narrion.

If Counsell is indeed officially the hire, he will be the 19th Brewers manager in franchise history. Doug Melvin already confirmed the new manager would be coming aboard on a multi-year deal.