The Mets might have to wait a few weeks to talk to Craig Counsell.

Sources sаy that the Brewers’ manager’s deal doesn’t end until October 31, even though the team lost to the Diamondbacks in the wild-card round on Wednesday.

Some people aren’t sure what a manager can do if the season is over but their contract is still open, and it looks like everyone is acting as if the Mets or any other interested team would need permission from the Brewers to talk to Counsell early.

It wasn’t known if David Stearns, the Mets’ head of baseball operations, had talked to the only manager he worked with in Milwaukee as of early Friday night.

The Brewers have already stopped the Mets before, when they wouldn’t let Stearns, who was head of baseball operations for the Brewers at the time, interview with the Mets in October 2021.

Mark Attanasio, the owner of the Brewers, probably won’t help the Mets if they try to get his manager. For Attanasio, supporting small-market teams is very important, and he doesn’t seem likely to try to make peace with Steve Cohen, who is a big-market giant.

If the Mets want to wait for Counsell’s contract to actually end, there are risks that come with that. Other teams that are looking for managers could look for prospects that the Mets like. What if the Mets wait for Counsell and he decides not to go to Milwaukee?

This week, the Brewers wouldn’t sаy anything about Counsell’s deal. When reporters from Milwaukee asked Counsell about his plans for the future after the team was eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday night, he said, “That ain’t for tonight.”

He has said that he will look for a boss with “a wide net” and is open to almost anyone, with or without experience. In the Mets system, which is used to change, he wants someone who will grow with him and stay with the team for a long time. It was their fourth manager in a row, including Carlos Beltran, who didn’t run a single game, who didn’t make it through a third season.

Stearns has said that he wants the search to be thorough, so he may talk to a lot of other people before he can talk to Counsell.

There is also the fact that Stearns ran baseball operations for Milwaukee from 2016 to 22 and got along well with Counsell during that time. Stearns might not need to talk to Counsell in person to get a good idea of what kind of boss he is. It’s possible that Counsell would want to learn more about the Mets organization before making a choice.

If Counsell is chosen as the best option, the Mets would have to get him to leave his home team.

Counsell went to high school in Milwaukee and played six of his 16 major league seasons with the Brewers. He has two girls who go to high school near their home in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, and two sons who play baseball in the Big Ten at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota.

This week, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said again that he wants Counsell to be his manager for a 10th season. He called Counsell “thoughtful” and “loyal.”

“Craig and I talked right around Labor Day, and we decided that this year we had a chance to do something special. We were going to focus on that, and we’d talk again after the season was over,” Attanasio told reporters in Milwaukee before the end of the club’s season. “I think that talk will be open-ended. Let’s see how he wants to handle it.” I believe he has earned that.

“It’s clear we want him back. Let’s see what he has in mind.”

Counsell has made many good but not great clubs better, so other teams might try to hire him. There are also openings among the Guardians, Giants, and Angels.