Milwaukee Brewers: The genesis of Craig Counsell

Recent announcement of Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus not returning after the season brings with it flashbacks of recent moves by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Back in 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers parted ways with former manager Ron Roenicke. It is a move that is mirrored by the Tigers decision to let Ausmus go. Both teams at the time of the decision happened to be right on the cusp of a rebuild.

After trading away J.D. Martinez and the team of Justin Wilson and Alex Avila to the Diamondbacks and Cubs respectively. They received prospects such as Dawl Lugo and Jeimer Candelario. Now they are looking for someone to lead the youngsters following a very poor season.

It is more than just a rebuild process that brings feelings of similarity, however. The letting go of Roenicke came after a 7-18 start to the 2015 season. That was an awful start to the season, but did allow the entrance of Craig Counsell.

If the Tigers follow suit they will bring in a young manager as well. It is a move that would make sense, it worked well for the Milwaukee Brewers. Young players have played a huge role in the success this season.

Because Roenicke was let go so early in the 2015 season, the rebuild movement can be seen as early as 2014. An important move include bringing Jeremy Jeffress in, who then got dealt with Jonathan Lucroy for Lewis Brinson and company. Of course, Jeffress found his way back to Milwaukee this year.

Other important moves to note include the drafting of Brandon Woodruff. That off season is when the Milwaukee Brewers traded Yovani Gallardo as well. From that, they received Marcos Diplan, Luis Sardinas, and Corey Knebel.

The off season prior to that poor start brought even more of the successful rebuild. A trade with Houston brought in Josh Hader, Domingo Santana, Brett Phillips. There were more transactions made in order to piece together everything. This includes bringing in players like Manny Pina and Junior Guerra.

All it took was figuring out the right guy to lead this team. The combination of Doug Melvin and David Stearns did a great job bringing in the right players, but also finding the right personnel. Counsell, even with his lack of managerial experience, is the right guy to lead the young Milwaukee Brewers puzzle.

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The Tigers have started the process to follow this Brew Crew blueprint. The only question is, who will lead Detroit? But it takes the right guy. Think back to the playing career of Counsell. He was a scrappy guy with the personality to lead a young team to reflect him.