The Milwaukee Brewers are expected to promote longtime bench coach Pat Murphy to manager, major-league sources said Monday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Chicago Cubs hired former Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell away last week, making him MLB’s highest-paid manager.
- The 64-year-old Murphy has been the Brewers’ bench coach since 2015. He was also Counsell’s coach at Notre Dame.
- Milwaukee finished 92-70 last season, losing in the wild-card round to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Brewers expected to name Pat Murphy their new manager, sources tell @TheAthletic. Murphy, Craig Counsell’s former coach at Notre Dame and his bench coach in Milwaukee from 2015 to ‘23, would become his rival in the NL Central.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 14, 2023
Backstory
The Cubs stunned the baseball world by hiring Counsell to replace David Ross.
Counsell, who guided the Brewers to the playoffs in five of the last six seasons, was widely assumed to be choosing between staying home in Wisconsin or taking on a new challenge with the New York Mets. Chicago instead gave him a five-year contract worth more than $40 million, The Athletic previously reported.
Murphy previously coached the Arizona State baseball team from 1995 to 2009 and served in a variety of roles within the San Diego Padres organization from 2010 to 2015. He was the Padres’ interim manager for 96 games in 2015 after they fired Bud Black, going 42-54.
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(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
