The Philadelphia Phillies have announced they plan to interview Dusty Baker for their vacant manager position.
Dusty Baker, the former manager of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants, makes sense to be the manager given his history with phenom Bryce Harper. If the Philadelphia Phillies were to hire Baker, this would be a bigger gut punch to Nationals fans than the Harper signing.
Baker, who has also managed the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds, would be a great option to fill the void left by Gabe Kapler‘s firing. The person I feel bad for the most is Kapler. He had one season before the Phillies told him to hit the road.
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In baseball more than most sports, I really don’t think one season is a long enough time frame to really judge the job a manager has done. Obviously it was a letdown season after the huge signing of Harper, but that is only one player. There are more factors than a single player involved in an entire baseball season.
Almost the same thing happened to Baker when he was managing the Nationals, except he had a two-season sample size. He even won consecutive NL East titles and that wasn’t good enough. I think there may be some additional motivation if he were to take the job.
If the Phillies offer him the job, I think he’ll take it. He has a great track record as a manager. Over the 22 seasons as a manager, he is 1863-1636 overall and won National League manager of the year three times.
If he takes it, there will be an additional layer to the Phillies versus Nationals season series as the two rivals will be even more connected. It only makes sense for Philadelphia to lock him down. Baker is a safe choice, who will get you results.
I think that Dusty Baker will be prowling the Philadelphia Phillies dugout next year and I can’t wait to watch the Nationals versus the Phillies.