“looking forward to see what Dusty can do here.”
Allow me to clue you in
1. He will play veterans ad nauseum-way beyond it being obvious to everyone else that the side of beef is past his prime. He will tell the media that he is allowing them to “play out of” their slump
2. He will hardly steal, if ever! You can have the some of the fastest players in MLB on your roster and it won’t matter. He will not allow them to steal a base. Ask Willy Taveras, Drew Stubbs and Billy Hamilton:
3. He will wear your starting pitchers out:
4. He will make you crazy with bizarre decisions and leave you wondering why he did or did not do something that was obvious to even the most casual fan; and
5. He cannot close the deal. He will get the Nats to the post-season but (much like Bruce Bochy in 2012) he will get out-managed.
I remember when the Reds hired him. A friend from Chicago warned me that Dusty will get some over the hill bums that are loyal to him and play them too much. One he singled out was Corey Patterson. He said that Patterson cannot resist the low outside fastball and he could not hit the low outside fastball. I spent a Summer going nuts watching Dusty run Patterson out on the field and watching him continuously strike out on low outside fastballs.
Good luck Nats. You’ll need it.
Dusty has had success wherever he’s gone.
Cincinnati, unfortunately, has been lousy since Dusty left. Former big leaguer Jerry Hairston talked to his Reds’ teammates Joey Votto and Jay Bruce and asked them, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with you guys?”
Their answer was, “We miss Dusty Baker.”
He’s been to the playoffs numerous times and been to the World Series. And he knows how to manage superstars, having managed Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Ken Griffey Jr.
He isn’t a sabermetrics-bound guy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.