If there were any questions about what kind of taste would be left in the Milwaukee Brewers’ mouths after Craig Counsell hopped on Interstate 94, made the 90-minute drive south and signed a record-breaking contract to manage the rival Chicago Cubs, they were answered Monday afternoon.

In a meeting with local media mere hours after news broke that Counsell was signing as a free agent, Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio made his feelings rather clear.

“We’re all here today because we lost Craig,” Attanasio said in his opening statement. “But I’ve reflected on this – Craig has lost us and he’s lost our community also.”

That was the message Attanasio reiterated across a 15-minute web conference. There were no personal shots at Counsell, who had spent the last 17 years with the Brewers as a player, front office executive and manager. But there was certainly frustration over Counsell’s decision, often conveyed through a message of resolve about how the Brewers will take it in stride.

“To use probably the most overused term in sports, ‘It is what it is,’” Attanasio said when asked what his reaction was that Counsell was leaving for the Cubs, of all teams.