Brewers should follow the Royals' lead with their next coaching decision

Remember when Craig Counsell shockingly left his job with the Milwaukee Brewers for a lateral move with the Chicago Cubs? Amidst the many emotions and feelings at the time (i.e., bitterness and rage), one thing that flew under the radar was that Pat Murphy eschewed a chance to hang around with Counsell in order to replace him on the Crew's bench.

Two years later, it's almost unfathomable how well that whole saga has transpired for the Brewers. Counsell is in some hot water in Chicago after losing to his former protégé in the NLDS, while Murphy is the back-to-back reigning NL Manager of the Year.

That kind of success tends to earn a coach some leverage in contract talks, and yet all is quiet on that front with Murphy, even after the team announced a swath of coaching moves yesterday afternoon. Despite the 2026 season representing the final year on his original three-year deal, there's been little in the way of rumors suggesting that the team and manager are close on an extension.

After watching the Kansas City Royals extend manager Matt Quatraro on a three-year deal, now is the time for the Brewers to get Murphy locked up for the rest of the decade.

Brewers should follow the Royals' lead and sign manager Pat Murphy to a contract extension this winter

The good news on this front is that there's no doubt that the Brewers want Murphy to stick around, and the longtime MLB coach has made it clear he feels the same.

"I found a home. If I do it 10 more years, you know, I’d like to do it in Milwaukee," Murphy told ESPN's Jeff Passan in December. It's clear the respect is mutual between both parties, but there's an open question of how much longer the 67-year-old skipper will want to keep coaching.

Remember, Counsell left for the North Side of Chicago not because it was a better situation (though, at the time, the Cubs did appear to have more long-term appeal than they do now). Rather, the Cubs gave him the largest-ever guarantee for a manager in MLB history, at $40 million over five years. Might Murphy need a similar type of financial incentive to stave off retirement for a few more years?

In the midst of an agonizingly slow offseason and with the dreaded 2027 lockout looming, the last thing Brewers fans need is more uncertainty. Murphy can't coach forever, but he should be a staple of this team for at least the next few years — even if it requires ownership to stretch their wallets beyond their breaking point.