Heyman: Dusty Baker eager to manage again
Dusty Baker had one early conversation when Dave Stewart called to let him know Stewart might have a chance to become Diamondbacks GM and that he may consider him for the manager role should he get the the job. However, Baker didn’t hear back after Stewart got the job, and Arizona instead hired former D-Backs coach Chip Hale, who’s getting good early reviews.
Baker, 65, expressed no hard feelings, saying he never wanted to “put pressure on Stewart, who grew up with us” with the Dodgers, and he praised the team for hiring his friend as GM and also DeJon Watson, another well-respected minority, for the key role as Stewart’s right-hand man. It’s hard to know why Baker never received an interview, and it may very well have been something as simple as Arizona’s interest in a younger guy for what looks like a rebuilding job and had nothing to with a rough rivalry Baker had with D-Backs president Tony LaRussa when Baker was with the Cubs and then the Reds (“real bad blood” is what one person called it, referring to some harsh words back and forth after Baker was upset Reds stars Johnny Cueto and Brandon Phillips were passed over for All-Star selections by LaRussa one year).
Stewart said in a phone interview that he indeed very much respects as managers Baker and also former Rangers manager Ron Washington, and that he initially considered both men. “I thought Dusty and Ron Washington were guys who might be good in the situation. But that was me, individually,” Stewart said. However, Stewart said when he, LaRussa and team president Derrick Hall got into the room together, his thinking started to evolve.
“Once we started to think about it, Chip Hale brings the type of energy, is younger and perhaps more in tune with today’s young player, and he might be a better fit for what we have in the clubhouse,” Stewart said. “Dusty’s a guy who obviously communicates and a guy who’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” but collectively, they figured someone like Hale made more sense for their rebuilding team.
Dusty Baker is waiting in the wings for another chance to manage. (USATSI)
Stewart said it had nothing to do with Baker’s LaRussa rivalry and that “Tony was open to it.” But ultimately, Stewart decided that it wouldn’t be fair to Baker to bring him in for an interview when he didn’t think he had a real “opportunity to win the job.”
Baker, a superb motivator with an excellent track record, ultimately may be more interested in a non-rebuilding process, anyway.Though he has proven to be excellent in turnaround situations (in San Francisco, Chicago and Cincinnati), Baker has applied for three jobs since the Reds fired him: Seattle, Washington and Detroit — three decidedly non-rebuilding situations. In all three cases, he didn’t receive so much as a callback.
Baker may deserve another chance, and he clearly wants back in. “I didn’t fire myself,” he said. “I didn’t retire. They wanted me to retire.”
Baker, who managed the Giants, Cubs and Reds from 1993 through 2013, won the NL Manager of the Year award three times and has posted a .526 winning percentage in his two decades as a manager. He won 509 games and lost 463 (.524) with the Reds, his last job.
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