Craig Counsell had a request for Cubs president Jed Hoyer at the trade deadline.
He wanted a right-handed hitting outfielder to bring off the bench.
Hoyer was focused on adding pitching, and he did, bringing in righties Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes to slot at the top of the Cubs’ starting rotation.
But Counsell had a suggested name, too, a guy he managed for parts of five seasons in Milwaukee.
How about Tyrone Taylor?
“That was a spot on the roster that he was focused on,” Hoyer said Tuesday. “Taylor was a guy he brought up. As he was thinking about how to use the bench and the lineup at the end of the year, that kind of player would fit really well for us.”
The Cubs landed Taylor in the same deal with the Mets that netted Holmes and envisioned the outfielder as a role player who could contribute offensively and defensively, good enough with the glove to give MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong breaks in center field, if needed.
It turns out he’s someone they maybe didn’t know how much they needed.
Taylor’s been excellent at the plate, bringing a 1.027 OPS as a Cub into Wednesday’s game against his former team.
“Let’s say I didn’t know him, his general skill set fit us really well,” Counsell said Wednesday. “I know Tyrone. I knew he’d fit in really well here, and he has.
“He’s always been like, ‘I know what my job is. I’m going to do that job well.’ Simple as that. Nothing more than that.
“He was a really good high-school football player. He kind of competes like a football player sometimes, a little bit, and that’s always a good thing.”
So not a bad recommendation from the skipper, huh?
“1.000 OPS, right?” Hoyer said. “That’s not that subtle.”
Counsell’s known Taylor for a long time, known that he’s been someone his teams, be they Brewers or Cubs, could always benefit from.
But did he know he could do this?
“I can remember seeing him on a backfield when he was 18 years old, and I don’t know that I would have thought that he would turn into this type of hitter,” Counsell said. “He was more like a contact, ‘spray the ball around the field’ type guy. And he’s turned into a guy who can hit home runs.
“But he was a really good competitor and a really good athlete, and those things always work.”
Taylor’s on the other side of the Cubs-Brewers rivalry now, making his presence felt in the first two games of this week’s series, starting the scoring in a 17-3 blowout Monday with a first-inning home run – the first of the team’s record nine long balls – and doubling home half his team’s runs in Tuesday’s 9-4 loss.
Taylor came into Wednesday with a pair of four-hit games on the home stand and four multi-hit efforts in his previous eight contests.
But this isn’t a one-way compliment street.
Taylor had high praise for his former and current manager, too, seeing Counsell’s presence as part of what makes the Cubs a potentially dangerous team come October.
“He’s really good at putting his guys in good positions to succeed,” Taylor said. “He’s played before, too, so he understands the everyday grind of it. He’s very intelligent when it comes to the baseball rules and stuff.
“I think he’s one of the best managers. I guess he got paid like one, too. It makes sense.”
The big-money investment in luring Counsell south of the state line is an integral part of the Cubs-Brewers story – as is the fact that the Brewers have kept besting the Cubs in the division race since he switched sides.
It looks increasingly unlikely that the Brewers, who started Wednesday with an eight-game lead in the NL Central standings, will be dethroned this season. But come playoff time? Could the Cubs get revenge on their postseason ousters from a year ago?
“We’ve got the talent in here to go all the way,” Taylor said, “but also, we know it’s important to take it day by day and one game at a time.”
Yeah, that fits Counsell’s Cubs perfectly.