On Dusty Baker
Okay, we’ve all had a bit of time to digest the news that Dusty Baker has been hired as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds for the next three years. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the reaction to the move around the internets and in the print media.
I think it’s obvious that the intense criticism of Baker’s hiring has been heard by the Reds because the mainstream Reds media has already gone into full damage-control mode. Take a look at this defense by John Fay, and this one by Mark Sheldon, and this one by Paul Daugherty. And broadcaster Jeff Brantley “never had a problem with the way (Baker) handled pitchers. He got the blame for what happened to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, but I don’t think that was his fault.”
Pray tell, Brantley…whose fault was it? (For more on this, check out this post by doug on yesterday’s comment thread.)
Why such a need to defend the move less than a day after it was announced? Could the Reds be feeling the heat already?
Okay, so what have people been saying on the internets?
–Red Hot Mama is suffering “significant irritation” and has already podcasted the hiring.
–Justin has all kinds of great stuff about Baker at his blog, including reasons to like the hiring.
–Daedalus thinks we’re overreacting. She probably has a point, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is the worst signing in the history of the world. (Tongue-in-cheek, folks.)
–Here is Shawn’s take.
–B Misc. isn’t excited, but isn’t opposed either.
–My alma mater is ranked 19th in the initial BCS rankings. No, that doesn’t have anything to do with Dusty Baker or the Reds, but as bad as UVa looked early in the year, I’m amazed and I needed some good news and I just wanted to point to it. Plus, the Buckeyes are number one.
–Cub fans are having a great time with this news. Chris posted this last night, but check out this hilarious post by Cub Reporter. If you read one non-Red blog post today, make it this one. It’s a brilliant “2008 Cincinnati Reds Year In Review.” My favorite part:
10-1-08 - The Reds play the Cubs at Wrigley in a one-game playoff to determine the sole NL Central representative in the playoffs. After 9 innings, the score is tied at 2, the Reds’ infield is 0-14 with 2 sacrifice bunts. Dunn, playing in game 163, hits his 100th and 101st home runs of the regular season, but strikes out four times on four efforts to intentionally walk him, bringing his strikeout total to 372. In the bottom of the tenth, Aramis Ramirez, noticing that Homer Bailey’s arm appears to be visibily throbbing and glowing a strange orange, smartly bunts a ball back towards Bailey’s right. Bailey grabs it, fires to first, with his arm detaching from its socket. With arm and ball alike traveling towards Hatteberg, Ramirez is able to beat the throw.
Baker calls in Estes from the pen, who procedes to walk Cubs right fielder Alex Rodriguez and then Jacque Jones. The game ends when Mark Derosa hits a high pop fly along the left field line. With Adam Dunn playing with two torn rotator cuffs, not-really-ex-cub Alex Gonzalez and actual-ex-cub Augie Ojeda race out from third and short to chase after the popup. Gonzalez leaps towards the left field foul wall padding, when a pair of hands extend over the wall, into fair territory, to make a grab at the ball. It’s really-ex-cub Alex Gonzalez, who foolishly tries to interfere with a live ball! Gonzalez whiffs on his effort to catch the ball, but distracts the other Gonzalez from the catch, causing the ball to fall in, just fair. Ramirez high-hurdles Darren Baker, who got lost on his way to deliver a new set of baseballs to the home plate umpire, and slides in for the winning run.
–This is an old post, but take a look at a Cubs fan’s examination of Dusty Baker’s handling of young players. Jay Bruce, Josh Hamilton, Edwin Encarnacion, Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, and Johnny Cueto have much to fear, it appears.
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Now, more from the mainstream media:
–Dusty Baker should fit right in. Seems he has a history with Marty Brennaman, stemming from some criticism by Marty in years past.
–I was never a big Pete Mackanin fan, but they didn’t even give the guy an interview after telling him that they would. That’s bush league. Mackanin seems to be taking it in stride. I hope the guy catches on with another organization soon.
–Oh yeah, and one more thing….the season is long over and, by the way, no one with the Reds has even spoken to Adam Dunn about his contract option. Too occupied with hiring Dusty Baker, I guess, to concern themselves with moves that might actually help the Reds win games on the field.
Okay, 24 hours later…have any of you changed your mind about the hiring, or at least softened your stance?
October 15th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Personally, I still feel like throwing up every time I hear it.
The only thing that will make me feel a little better about it is if the Reds bring in Leo Mazzone.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Pray tell, Brantley…whose fault was it?
Current Reds pitching coach Dick Pole?
Dusty notes… folks he managed 10 years on the west coast before he hit Chicago, perhaps that tenure should be noted now and then?
I survived Marge Schott… Dusty Baker will be a walk in the park.
OTOH
Dusty played with Aaron, Kingman, McGwire Darrell Evans and Canseco. He’s managed Bonds and Sosa and now Griffey and Adam Dunn.
Has any single man been associated with so many home runs?
October 15th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Ken Rosenthal has an article on Foxsports.com.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Or, maybe its just real journalists and people who actually work in baseball for a living not succumbing to knee-jerk reactions.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Dusty played with Aaron, Kingman, McGwire Darrell Evans and Canseco.
…and he will probably bring them back and have Hamilton, Bruce, Votto, and EE ride the bench….
If Neifi Perez gets an invite to spring training, I offically quit.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Chris, I know several scouts for Major League Baseball clubs who had nearly the same reaction I had. One of them had season tickets to the Reds that he will not be renewing. Another scout openly called out the Reds upper management on the issue of how they have dealt with things over the past two years.
And honestly, what seperates real journalists from me and you? The fact that they went to college for something different and get little passes that let them talk to players? Trust me, there are a TON of journalists out there covering baseball that don’t know what I knew at age 10 about the game of baseball.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
rotoworld:
Dusty Baker is taking a three-year deal to manage the Reds, ESPN.com is reporting.
The Reds got the big name they wanted. That’s about the only nice thing we can say about this. The Reds may be more likely to dump Adam Dunn now, as he does nothing more than clog up the bases with his walks. Also, we worry about what will happen to Joey Votto if he doesn’t get off to a hot start next year. Baker values experience about as much as any manager in baseball, and he loves speed, which could mean that Ryan Freel will get a lot of at-bats at the expense of Josh Hamilton or Edwin Encarnacion.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
If Neifi Perez gets an invite to spring training, I offically quit.
If you can do it then go ahead, 30 plus years for me and I’m still here, despite the years of prior mess that pales compared to signing Baker and raising the payroll.
They’re your team, not your underpants, you may think you can just change em, but I’m betting you can’t.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Well I officially quit when Narron pinch hit Castro for Hamilton; when Stanton was signed to two years; when we were using the three catcher experiment; when we started playing Jason Ellison….and that was in one season…..One of these days I may be forced to have a ’straw that broke the camel’s back’ experience. Until then, quitting, in an offical way, it akin to opening the relief valve on a pressure cooker.
I may, however, actually quit going to any games or buying any new merchandise in protest. That may be up to the Neifi invite….
October 15th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Let’s hope Dusty came in with some promises from Castellini to make some additions to the bullpen and starting pitching, payroll, etc. He must have asked for something other than just his personal salary and the chance to manage again. Let’s save the criticism for those later moves and Baker’s actual performance with the Reds.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
It’s worth noting that the reasons that I included in my blog post to like this hire have almost nothing to do with Dusty Baker.
-justin
October 15th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
[...] If nothing else, there will at least be a small army of bloggers (Redleg Nation) to hold Baker and upper management accountable if the pitchers are over-extended — but if everyone begins to make a fuss at some point next season, you have to wonder whether it will already be too late . . . Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized [...]
October 15th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Wouldn’t Wayne have a final say on who Dusty brought in? I understand Wayne has brought in jobbers when it comes to relief pitching, but past Todd Hollandsworth and Ellison, I can’t think of many bad moves the guy has made with position players.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
From an AP article:
“I want him (Dunn) back,” owner Bob Castellini said Monday. “We’ll see what happens. There’s a strong feeling that we want him back.”
October 15th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Thanks for the update on that Matt, I thought that was the sentiment of management
October 15th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Im getting behind the guy until the point comes where he is making the same old mistakes. If the young guys are not playing because Dusty is favoring veterans. Then I will concede that this was an awful hire. Same way with the young pitchers. Until then all i know is that he won in SF and CHI and if he can get us to within one out of the world series I will have no problem eating my prior words and supporting the man.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Dusty some how won 1162 games in SF and Chi. Now he must know something. He will sign Livan Herandez to show the young pitchers how to be a rubber band. That will help the blown up arms issues that are bound to happen. Although to be fair. Wood and Prior may have already been broken because of the Cubs system of using pitchers. Just a thought that I may not believe. Any jab at the Cubs is worth it though. The mountain is not hard to climb to get in. 85 wins won the NL Central. If we could reduce the blown saves by 50 percent then we would be right there. Maybe Dusty has learned his lesson. Bring in Leo Mazzone. I will help pitch in to get him a comfy rocker.