Cubs continue to pillage Brewers coaching staff with their latest hire

When Craig Counsell bolted Milwaukee to head to Chicago last November, he wasn't able to take any of his assistants from the Milwaukee Brewers coaching staff along with him. The coaches were under contract and the promotion of Pat Murphy helped keep them all in place, at least for a year.

Now, with another year gone by and coaching contracts expiring, Counsell and the Cubs have the ability to poach some of his old assistants from the Crew, and reports are that they've done just that.

Per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, the Cubs are hiring Brewers first base coach Quintin Berry. Berry is going to be the third base coach for Chicago next season.

Cubs steal the Brewers stolen base guru and coach Quintin Berry

Berry was a stolen base specialist during his playing career and he spearheaded the effort for the Brewers to be more aggressive on the base paths. Milwaukee had 217 stolen bases this year, good for 2nd in all of MLB and just the second time in franchise history they've stolen more than 200 bases in a season as a team.

Berry has been the Brewers first base coach for the past four seasons and spent two years prior to that as Milwaukee's minor league baserunning and outfield coordinator.

The Brewers had to expect some turnover in the coaching staff with Counsell looking to bring over some of his top lieutenants. They've taken great care to keep pitching coach Chris Hook, who has been instrumental in the club's pitching success over the last several years, and overhauled the hitting staff, bringing up two new faces from the minor leagues and retaining Connor Dawson.

Berry is the first Brewers assistant to join Counsell's staff since his departure last offseason. He may not be the last either. The Brewers still have several assistant coaches who have not signed new deals as their contracts expire here on October 31st. Third base coach Jason Lane, assistant pitching coach Jim Henderson, and run prevention coordinator Walker McKinven are the key Brewers assistant coaches that have their futures still up in the air.