Craigers!

The Counsell signing became official today, as Craig has passed his physical.

In strict tangible terms, I think there's a lot to like about this deal. While Craig Counsell isn't a very good hitter, he has some discipline at the plate, so he's not a complete lost cause (in fact, he had a .355 OBP in 248 ABs last year, which is nothing to sneer at), and he can play plus defense at three infield positions. $1 million for a guy who can field several positions competently and isn't completely lost at the plate is a solid deal, even for a 38-year-old.

If, however, I can move away from actual baseball performance and indulge in a bit of personal history here, I've felt for a while like Craig Counsell has a strange connection to my baseball watching life. I first got into baseball when I was 8-years-old, during the 1997 season. I was living in Milwaukee at the time, so I became a Brewers fan, and the first few games I went to were at old Milwaukee County Stadium. However, that year I found out my family was moving to Arizona. My first reaction was, "What? We can't move to Arizona. They don't have a baseball team!" My dad pointed out to me that, thankfully, Arizona was actually getting a baseball team the very next year, just in time for us. I was still apprehensive about moving, but knowing this did cushion the blow somewhat.

We moved to Arizona in late October. We headed out on October 22nd, and spent a little over a week driving down to Arizona. This, of course, was during the 1997 World Series, and I watched it every night. It was the one constant during the trip; we were sleeping in a different hotel in a different state pretty much every night, but there was always a World Series game to watch. This was the first World Series I ever watched, and it was, of course, between the Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins. I was rooting for the Marlins the whole way, not because I cared about Florida, but because I knew they were a young expansion team, and I felt like if they won the World Series, it would prove to me that a young expansion team could win the Series, and then I could hope that the Diamondbacks would win. Of course, that line of thinking doesn't really make any sense, but it's what I thought when there was a walkoff hit to end Game 7, and Craig Counsell rushed home to score the winning run for Florida.

And that line of thinking still doesn't really make any sense, but it was vindicated. Just 4 years later, in 2001, I was ecstatic to see that the Diamondbacks could, and did win the World Series, and of course, who better to be in the middle of it all but Craig Counsell, getting hit by a pitch to extend the inning just long enough for Luis Gonzalez to bring a championship to Arizona.

As I grew older, my baseball love began to ebb, but it came back when the Milwaukee Brewers, my original favorite team, from my original hometown, actually began to win some ballgames. And of course, admittedly serving in a reserve role, but nonetheless involved, with them was Craig Counsell.

So I'm glad they've brought him back; it just seems like it isn't right if he's not playing on the team I'm rooting for.