Dusty Baker makes so much sense for the New York Mets, who remain reluctant to even hear him out.
On Friday, the Washington Nationals announced that Dusty Baker would not be returning for the 2018 season after a successful 2017 campaign.
The announcement came on the heels of a first-round exit for the Nationals from the NLDS at the hands of the reigning World Champion Chicago Cubs.
The firing comes as a huge surprise and has the potential to be a short-sighted and costly maneuver for an organization that has employed seven managers in the past 13 years.
Since Dusty Baker was fired, large group of baseball people defending him. "So unfair," one exec said. "Nats butchered this," another said.
— Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayFRS) October 20, 2017
Although Baker has been blamed for the team’s lack of postseason success, he performed admirably as manager for an organization that secured back-to-back division winners.
Baker is highly respected throughout the game and has put together a Hall of Fame-caliber resume.
Dusty Baker, dismissed today by #Nats, is 14th in @MLB history with 1,863 career wins; 12 of 13 men ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 20, 2017
There is a laundry list of reasons the New York Mets should at least offer Baker an interview and it starts with his career success and ends with the Nationals’ 97-win 2017 season. The Nationals finished the season with a 20-game margin on the second place Miami Marlins.
What makes that feat even more impressive was the fact that star right fielder Bryce Harper missed extended time after injuring himself on the first base bag. Joining him on the DL was newly acquired center fielder Adam Eaton and the promising young shortstop Trea Turner.
Those three players are among the top five players on the team, making their extended absences even more difficult to manage.
The hiring of a high-profile manager, who is on the back nine of his career, would be the quintessential win-now move. Considering the current state of the Mets, a win-now move makes complete sense.
Sandy Alderson is 69 years old with noted health problems who just agreed to a two-year contract extension with the organization.
There’s a very real possibility that Alderson will walk away in two years, which is why bringing in Dusty Baker for a two-year run at the World Series makes sense.
Integral players such as Jerry Blevins, Matt Harvey, A.J. Ramos and Wilmer Flores will all hit the free agent market within this upcoming two-year window.
Realistically, the Mets have created a two year window for a World Series run. At the conclusion of that time frame, the team will most likely lose their general manager and multiple starters.
Therefore, the team is incentivized to go all in for the next two seasons and Dusty is the man for that type of commitment to short-term success.
In the last six seasons as an active manager, Dusty has made it to the postseason five times. That amount of success on his resume is currently being overlooked by the Mets organization.
First-time managers such as Kevin Long and Alex Cora are too much of a gamble for a team with so little time. Why not just go for the guy with eons of experience and a proven track record?
The fact that they are not at the minimum entertaining an interview for Baker is a mistake, he should be the next manager of the New York Mets.