Dusty Baker scoffs at analytics, absolutly no reason to think he's suddenly gung ho about them. He has had extremely good teams, but has for the most part failed consistently in the playoffs . I don't like this hire, even a little bit, more for what it represents than anything. But I don't think he's a particularly good manager, and I think he's a worse fit. Now we just need to hire an old school GM who will tear down our corrupted infrastructure to put the coup de grace on Houston sports for the forseeable future. What we do at GM is of much greater concern. The organization had one mind, one plan from top to bottom. It was a major part of our success. Now unless we go in a different direction, one mindset is now impossible. I'm probably the most demoralized I've ever been as a Houston sports right now. It feels like the sky is falling between BOB being god, Tilmann refusing to pay for a worthy team, and signalgate. The Astros feel like my last hope, and I think Crane is about to prove himself as terrible an owner as the other 2 franchises are stuck with.
Let me clarify my statement about Baker letting Strom handle the pitching staff. Obviously, Baker would have the opportunity to provide input for any in-game managerial decisions, but, throughout his career, his big weakness has been overworking talented arms. In Houston, he has the best pitching coach in the business. If Strom can prevent Baker from overusing the Astros’ pitching staff, that would go a long way towards alleviating a huge concern.
Maybe...just maybe...Baker is more open to analytics now than he was in the earlier phases of the decade. It’s too purvasive throughout the sport in 2020 to realistically scoff at. Hopefully this is a one or two year deal and gives our next GM to bring in the manager of his liking. There are some pros to bringing in a veteran manager, especially after an offseason like what we just went through.
If true, I'm not a big fan of the Baker hire...but it's a far better choice than Showalter, Gibbons or Ausmus.
I seriously doubt it. As a guy that has worked with "dinosaurs" - for the most part, they do not evolve, learn, grow, or try anything new, they stick with what they know regardless of how antiquated it is. Smart dinosaurs however, know how to delegate and give responsibility to people that are up with the times. I am hoping Dusty is that kind of dinosaur, but if you think he is going to start being an analytically oriented manager himself, that ain't happening. Ugh....
My two issues with a Baker hire: - Why move away from what's been working so we'll?? - Why hire an old geezer with a track record of burning out high profile arms? Don't like it.
This is a misconception. He did do this once...in Chicago with Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, and Zambrano, but he ha since "learned his lesson." Numbers back it up. Im not a huge fan of the hire, although when I hear him talk, he sounds like the perfect fit for our situation in particular. It is a PR move for sure.
Terrible post season record, blows out big arms, not a big fan of analytics; what's the point of this hire?
This is a really good article on it. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/36853/best-bp-2017-dusty-bakers-outdated-reputation/
The media is so negligent in reporting, they would rather be first to break a story rather than report it accurately. You know how many of Kobe's daughter's died and then undied within an hour on Sunday?? Disgraceful.
I’ll keep an open mind on Dusty if he’s the choice. Hinch had plenty of known flaws when he was hired, without any previous success as a manager. In the end, this is no longer a young team. They know what they’re supposed to do. Baker has proven to show the ability to motivate and be well liked. That’s half the managers job.
