Dusty Baker has put the Washington Nationals on the spot with his public desire for a new contract. Should they extend the manager or take a wait-and-see approach?
Dusty Baker‘s current contract to manage the Washington Nationals ends after the 2017 season. But the veteran skipper has no intention of letting his tenure in D.C. end there. He said as much to Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post, adding that he has also made his desire for a new deal known to the Nats brass.
"“Why not? This is what I came here for,” said Baker, 67. “I didn’t come for two years. I came to win back-to-back titles.”“I mentioned it to one of the primary people [in Nationals management]. And I mentioned it to [General Manager Mike Rizzo] one time,” Baker said. “That’s enough. They know.”"
While that might seem like a bold request from some managers, Baker can get away with it. He’s a true baseball lifer, having spent 19 seasons as a major league player and another 22 as a manager. He earned the NL Manager of the Year Award three times while helming the San Francisco Giants in 1993, 1997 and 2000.
However, as Janes points out, a World Series title has eluded him as a skipper. He came the closest in 2002 when his Giants won the NL pennant but lost to the Angels in the Fall Classic. That desire for a ring is what drives him now in his latest go-around as a manager with the Nationals.
In the middle of his second season in Washington, Baker has done a very nice job. Last year the Nats won 95 games under his watch and captured the NL East crown. This season he has them out to a 38-22 record and comfortable 10.5-game lead in the division.
Of course, for a talented Nationals team, it’s all about the postseason. In 2016 the Nats fell in the NLDS for the third time in five years, losing to the Dodgers in five games. Unfortunately, that’s become a pattern for Baker in the playoffs: His teams have lost nine consecutive potential series-clinching games.
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GM Mike Rizzo and the rest of the Nats front office find themselves in a tricky position here. They have a manager on the last year of his deal and a team that’s on a roll. Giving Baker the extension he wants could put his mind at ease as the club sails toward the pressure-filled days of October.
But what if the Nationals get to the postseason and once again fall short of expectations? Baker probably wouldn’t be the most popular guy in D.C. (which is saying something), and having him on a freshly-extended deal would likely only worsen the mood among the fanbase. On the other side of the coin, if the team successfully launches a deep playoff run, it will look like a wise move.
Baker is widely liked and respected around the game, but he’s garnered a few common criticisms over the years. One being his ability to get teams over the hump in October. With the way this Nationals roster is built (save for, perhaps, the bullpen), securing a postseason spot – and frankly, winning the division – should be relatively straightforward. The playoffs, as always, are a different animal
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Is Dusty Baker the right man to help this club take that next step? The team’s 2017 playoff performance will probably give us the answer, but the Nationals need to determine whether to make a decision before then. For his part, Rizzo doesn’t see the issue becoming a distraction.