Uh. No.
The umpires will continue to be shitty on all fronts, but they’re not going to blackball the Astros.
Trying to fuck up may actually make them better.
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Aha! Secret genius Crane finding a creative way to maintain success in the long-term…
So it’s still not official. Nothing on the Astros website about Dusty being the new manager. I suspect they are working on a buy-out or multi-year option. I think maybe Crane sees Dusty will be a placeholder for one year, unless something great happens–like winning the pennant or WS again.
That’s my thinking as well. Dusty is a stop-gap until a new GM is in place.
I heard a rumor that Crane was wanting to announce the hire on Monday (post Super Bowl) and that he’d tried to keep the news down prior to but it got out, as it usually does.
Just got a Yahoo Sports “breaking news” notification that the Astros have “reportedly” hired Dusty Baker…maybe.
I have gotten about 10 of them.
My Cardinals fan friend/co-worker after seeing the Dusty news:
“Ok, MLB. That’s enough punishing the Astros now.”
McTaggart says it will be announced tomorrow.
One year, he’s a caretaker. It wastes a prime year of contention.
Do as you’re told, Jimmy. Good boy!
Stop it.
Hiring Dusty Baker isn’t automatically wasting a prime year of contention, especially considering the Astros were able to retain Espada as his bench coach.
This is still one of the three most-talented 25-man rosters in MLB and should easily win 90-100 games.
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“Hiring Dusty Baker isn’t automatically wasting a prime year of contention, especially considering the Astros were able to retain Espada as his bench coach.
This is still one of the three most-talented 25-man rosters in MLB and should easily win 90-100 games”
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I hope that’s correct. There are many free agents after 2021 and the season is critical.
No.
Going into the search, I was not a huge fan of Baker because of the way he overused Kerry Wood and Mark Prior during his time with the Cubs. However, as the process unfolded, I learned he didn’t do that in D.C. at the end of his managerial career. Also, he managed the Cincinnati Reds to two Central Division championships, and the Reds had failed to achieve a winning record for a decade before he arrived.
Baker has lofty shoes to fill, but, to his credit, he has won everywhere he’s managed, and he was easily the most accomplished manager the Astros interviewed.
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Just to add to this, the Reds have had 4 winning seasons this century, Baker was in charge of 3 of those seasons. The Reds won 91, 79, 97, and 90 games in his last 4 years but won only 76, 64, 68, 68, 67 and 75 in the years since. Obviously not all on the manager but it plays a factor.
They could have maybe done better, but they sure could have done worse.
At the risk of being labeled as asskisser of Lefty, he nailed my feelings about it, but I still don’t like it.