It’s not even March yet. Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker knows this. But does Dusty Baker know how full his plate is? He has already given the media plenty to digest since being named the Nationals’ new bench boss on November 3, 2015. There were these comments, then there was this one. He’s followed that up with a couple more.
The 66-year-old knows that under the management of Matt Williams, the club was not only expected by the masses to win an AL East title, the Nats were supposed to cruise to a World Series title in almost anti-climatic fashion. A few things did not go Williams and company’s way in 2015, but there are no excuses in professional sports. Dusty Baker knows this.
For a team boasting a defending NL MVP, perennial Cy Young contenders on the rotation and enough stars elsewhere to make Donald Trump want to throw money at them for verbal on the record endorsements scribed across the pages of the Washington Post, the Nationals are capable of winning a lot of games. But will Baker be the one to lead them there?
His coaching resume is scattered with highs and lows. First, the highs:
- .540 WPCT across 10 regular seasons with SFG (’93-’00), CHC (’03-’06), CIN (’08-’13)
- NL pennant in 2002 with the Giants
- Five division titles
- 3-time National League Manager of the Year
Though a World Series win has evaded Baker, he has done quite a good on paper for clubs that have employed his services. If you want to talk about the lows surrounding his career from the dugout, you have to dig a bit deeper and enter a grey area.
By the time the title starved Chicago Cubs turned to Baker looking for a return to glory in 2003, he had inherited what were two of the brightest young arms in the game. Their names were Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.
Wood was a budding superstar in 2003 coming off a prior season where he went 12-11 with a 3.66 ERA and 217 strikeouts, good for fourth in the Majors that year. The 2003 season would be his best yet and effectively, his last one as a full-time starter in Major League Baseball. That year he went 14-11, posting a 3.20 ERA and getting over the hump to be named the K king of baseball.
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Amidst Wood’s breakthrough year in which he earned his first All-Star game nod, Prior was meanwhile having himself a stellar sophomore campaign. Better even than Wood’s, if you can imagine. Prior went 18-6 across 30 starts, had a 2.43 ERA and finished only 21 strikeouts back of his teammate. He finished third in Cy Young balloting in 2003.
By the time Baker’s tenure was done in the Windy City, Prior’s MLB career was over at age 25. Wood, only 29 at the time, only appeared in four games for the Cubs and was transitioning towards becoming a closer.
Critics often cite Baker’s overuse or mismanagement of these two arms as the prevailing reason why so much talent went spoiled before its time. He’s unlikely to repeat these transgressions with the likes of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg or Gio Gonzalez, but Baker will be under the microscope all season long — make no mistake.
Eyes will be on names like Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and others. Dusty Baker will be the one pulling the strings. He needs to be as dextrous as a puppet master performing for his rent money with the Washington Nationals in 2016.