The Chicago Cubs and manager Craig Counsell received high marks on their latest report card.
That news comes from a new MLB anonymous player survey published by The Athletic on Wednesday. The survey asked a variety of questions to over 100 current MLB players.
Counsell received nine votes, fourth place overall, to the question, “Which manager, aside from your own, would you most like to play for?” Counsell, in his second year with the Cubs after receiving a five year, 40 million dollar deal, trailed Texas manager Bruce Bochy (20 votes), the Reds’ Terry Francona (17 votes) and the Guardians’ Stephen Vogt (15 votes).
When asked why he voted for Counsell, one anonymous player responded, “His teams win, have fun and play with an edge.”
The Cubs as an organization also finished fourth to the question, “Which organizations have good reputations among players? Bad reputations?” The Cubs received 22 votes towards having a good reputation. Only the Dodgers (82 votes), Yankees (40 votes) and Braves (25 votes) received more positive votes out of the 126 responses. The Cubs were also one of 10 franchises to receive zero negative votes, with the A’s (39 votes), White Sox (31 votes) and the Rockies and Marlins (25 votes) rounding out the bottom four.
[More: Jed Hoyer praises Cubs rookie Matt Shaw’s development after recall | Chicago Cubs News]
When the players were asked what made them vote for a positive reputation with the Cubs, one player told The Athletic, “Players I know in Chicago, they talk about how well they treat families.” While another noted, “They are just about keeping traditions alive. They love their history and their legacies and try to continue that.”
The Athletic also polled players about their feelings on robot umpires calling balls and strikes, with an overwhelming 63.4% against the idea, just 17.2% of players in favor of the idea and 19.4% unsure on the idea.
The Athletic also polled players about their toughest at-bat, their interactions with gamblers and misconceptions fans have about playing in the big leagues in other aspects of the survey, which you can read by clicking the links within this sentence.
