MAYBE JUST ENJOY RETIREMENT
How Astros ex-manager still doing team disservice even after departure
Nov 8, 2023, 10:15 am
Baker couldn't stand the heat. Composite Getty Image.
Former Astros manager Dusty Baker went on a podcast last week and, after insisting all season that he paid fans no never mind (“if you listen to fans, pretty soon you’ll be sitting with them”) admitted that fans’ pot shots helped pave his way out of Houston.
“You know, I’m kind of tired of this and tired of the scrutiny,” he said. That echoed a comment at his retirement press conference where he complained that the Houston media was unfairly critical of him. “There were a couple instances, a couple articles, a couple of things that kind of made up my mind late summer.”
I understood how Baker felt. It must not be fun to have your every move questioned and criticized. But then he added a comment that really disappointed me.
“There was a whole lot of criticism from 30-year-olds … that I’m not doing this, and I don’t know that.”
Belittling 30-year-olds is ageism, disrespectful and given the state of baseball today very misguided. Dismissing advice from 30-year-olds is no different than saying all 74-year-olds (Baker’s age) are over the hill and have nothing left to offer the game.
Remember when you were a kid and your father drove you to Little League and forced you to listen to his dinosaur music on the radio? That was Dusty Baker punching the car radio buttons for the Astros in 2023.
From midseason on, Dusty Baker was challenged by general manager Dana Brown, the media and fans who made no bones about wanting rookie Yanier Diaz to be the regular catcher, or at least split backstop duties, with veteran, light-hitting Martin Maldonado.
As the noise grew louder and Brown uncharacteristically went public second-guessing Baker about the catcher’s position, Baker doubled down on Maldonado and practically benched Diaz the final weeks of the pennant drive.
By doing so, Baker certainly did Diaz no favors. Baker did Maldonado no favors, either. Each time “Maldy” came to the plate in late innings, you could hear groans from the stands.
But here’s where Baker really harmed Maldonado. After the season, general manager Brown declared Diaz “the main guy” moving forward and said the team needed “to get a backup catcher for Diaz.”
Perhaps if Baker had played Diaz more and had Maldonado accepted a support role, it’s possible that the Astros would want Maldonado another season or two. Eventually he could slide into a coaching spot.
But because Baker played Maldonado every game down the stretch, it’s unlikely the Astros considered keeping Maldonado in the fold. First, Diaz doesn’t need to see Maldonado on the bench, the ghost of 2023 past. The Astros don’t need Maldonado available if Framber Valdez goes diva and insists that Maldonado, and only Maldonado, should be his catcher. Justin Verlander is a pro. He’ll be fine with Diaz calling pitches.
Bottom line, Baker did Baker no favors by playing Maldonado every game over the wish of Brown. The Astros are Brown’s team now. And Brown doesn’t need a hard-headed septuagenarian who doesn’t take advice, and thinks 30-year-olds, just by virtue of their age, dare not question his knowledge of the game.
Dana Brown is in his 50s, but to Dusty Baker 50 is probably the new 30.
When the dust cleared from Dusty’s lovefest retirement party, he couldn’t wait to leave Houston and the Astros were happy to see him go. In 2023 and beyond, younger baseball minds do know as much or more than Baker. It's a whole new ballgame. Analytics rule.
Theo Epstein was 29 years old when he became general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2002. Two years later, the Sox were World Series champs. Three years after that, the Sox repeated as champions. In 2011, Epstein, still in his 30s, signed to become president of the Chicago Cubs. Five years later, you got it, the Cubs were World Series champs.
Andrew Friedman, from right here in Houston, was only 28 when he was named president of baseball operations and general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2005. Three years later, the Rays were in the playoffs for the first time in their history and made it to the World Series. The Rays also qualified for the postseason in 2010, 2011 and 2013 under his leadership – all while Friedman was in his 30s.
Still in his 30s, Friedman was named president of baseball operations by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. He signed a 5-year deal reportedly for $35 million, making him the highest-paid front-office executive in baseball. Friedman is still the boss in La La Land and the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020.
Billy Beane was 35 when he became general manager of the Oakland A’s in 1997. Beane was named MLB’s “Executive of the Year” three times. More impressive, Brad Pitt played Beane in the movie Moneyball.
The Astros manager when they won their first World Series in 2017 was A.J. Hinch. He was 35 when the Arizona Diamondbacks hired him as manager in 2009.
Baseball history has dozens of brilliant players, managers and executives who knew more about baseball than their birth certificates would have indicated.
Maybe Dusty Baker should have paid attention to his juniors.
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While holding one’s breath that for a change the Astros aren’t publicly grossly underestimating an injury’s severity with Jose Altuve having missed the last game and a half with “right side discomfort…”
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