MAYBE JUST ENJOY RETIREMENT
How Astros ex-manager still doing team disservice even after departure
Nov 8, 2023, 10:15 am
MAYBE JUST ENJOY RETIREMENT
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.
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…”
The Astros averting a sweep vs. Oakland Thursday was in no way a must-win, but getting the win allowed a mini sigh of relief. The Astros are NOT in the process of choking. Could they collapse? Sure that’s possible. Also possible is that they’ve just been in one more ebb phase in a season of ebb and flow. They certainly have left the door ajar for the Seattle Mariners to swipe the American League West, but with the M's simply not looking good enough to walk through that door the Astros remain in commanding position. The Astros made a spectacular charge from 10 games behind to grab the division lead. But there was a lot of runway left when the Astros awoke June 19th 10 games in arrears. September 3 the Astros arose with a comfy six game lead over the M’s. With Seattle blowing a 4-1 eighth inning lead in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers Thursday night, heading into Friday night the Astros' advantage is back up to four and a half games despite the Astros having lost six of their last nine games and having gone just 10-12 over their last 22 games. Not a good stretch but nothing freefalling about it.
While the Mariners have the remainder of their four-game series vs. the dead in the water Rangers this weekend, the Astros play three at the lousy Los Angeles Angels. The Astros should take advantage of the Halos, with whom they also have a four-game series at Minute Maid Park next weekend. Since the All-Star break, only the White Sox have a worse record than the Angels 19-31 mark (the White Sox are 6-43 post-break!). Two of the three starting pitchers the Angels will throw this weekend will be making their third big league starts. To begin next week the Astros are in San Diego for a three-game-set against a Padres club which is flat better than the Astros right now. That does not mean the Astros can’t take that series. The Mariners meanwhile will be still at home, for three vs. the Yankees.
There are some brutal Astros’ statistics that largely explain why this is merely a pretty good team and not more. As I have noted before, it is a fallacy that the best teams are usually superior in close games. But the Astros have been pathetic in close games. There used to be a joke made about Sammy Sosa that he could blow you out, but he couldn’t beat you. Meaning being that when the score was 6-1, 8-3 or the like Sammy would pad his stats with home runs and runs batted in galore. But in a tight game, don’t count on Sammy to come through very often. In one-run games the Astros are 15-26, in two-run games they are 10-14. In games that were tied after seven innings they are 3-12. In extra innings they are 5-10. The good news is, all those realities mean nothing when the postseason starts. So long as you’re in the postseason. In games decided by three or more runs the Astros have pummeled the opposition to the tune of 53 wins and 28 losses.
General Manager Dana Brown isn’t an Executive of the Year candidate, but overall he’s been fine this season. Without the Yusei Kikuchi trade deadline acquisition the Astros would likely barely lead the AL West. Brown’s biggest offseason get, Victor Caratini, has done very solid work in his part-time role. Though he has tapered off notably the last month and change, relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a fabulous signing. Scrap heap pickups Ben Gamel, Jason Heyward, and Kaleb Ort have all made contributions. However…
Dana. Dana! You made yourself look very silly with comments this week somewhat scoffing at people being concerned with or dismissive of Justin Verlander’s ability to be a meaningful playoff contributor. Brown re-sang a ridiculous past tune, the “check the back of his baseball card” baloney. Dana, did you mean like the back of Jose Abreu’s baseball card? Perhaps Brown has never seen those brokerage ads in which at the end in fine print and/or in rapidly spoken words “past performance is no guarantee of future results” always must be included. Past (overall career) performance as indicative of future results for a 41-year-old pitcher who has frequently looked terrible and has twice missed chunks of this season to two different injuries is absurd. That Verlander could find it in time is plausible. That of course he’ll find it? Absolutely not. His next two starts are slotted to be against the feeble Angels, so even if the results are better, it won’t mean “JV IS BACK!”
Presuming they hold on to win the division, the Astros’ recent sub-middling play means they have only very faint hope of avoiding having to play the best-of-three Wild Card Series. Barring a dramatic turn over the regular season’s final fortnight, Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are the obvious choices to start games one and two. If there is a game three, it is one game do or die. Only a fool would think Verlander the right man for that assignment. No one should expect Brown to say “Yeah, JV is likely finished as a frontline starter.” But going to the “back of the baseball card” line was laughable. Father Time gets us all eventually. Verlander has an uphill climb extricating himself from Father Time’s grasp.
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.