Craig Counsell’s tenure as Milwaukee’s manager is officially done.

After weeks of speculation, the 53-year-old has reportedly agreed to join the Chicago Cubs and replace David Ross, who had served as the team’s skipper since 2020.

The Brewers reportedly had a contract extension on the table all season to bring Counsell back, though the exact figures have not been made public. However, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the extension, which would have made Counsell the highest-paid manager in baseball, came in several million dollars short of the roughly $8 million per year that Chicago will pay him.

The Brewers' initial extension offer that would have made Counsell the highest-paid manager in the game was short of the Cubs' 5 year, +$40 million deal by at least a couple million dollars annually. The Cubs' contract is record-setting.

— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) November 6, 2023

Counsell leaves after eight full seasons with the club he grew up rooting for and the one that he played the final five years of his career with. It was, without a doubt, one of the most successful eras of Brewers baseball. After making the postseason twice between 1983 and 2017, Counsell led Milwaukee to the playoffs in five of the last six seasons. That included three NL Central Division titles and a run to the NLCS in 2018 that came up one game short of the World Series.

However, his playoff success could not match the regular season, as his team’s went 1-5 in postseason series. That included losing 12 of the final 15 playoff games he managed.

Overall, Counsell won 707 games, 144 more than any other manager in team history.