In hopes of getting past their scandal as fast as possible, the Houston Astros have hired respected manager Dusty Baker.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Houston Astros have agreed to a one-year contract with Dusty Baker. The contract has a club option for a second year.
The Houston #Astros and Dusty Baker have reached agreement on a short-term deal to become their new manager
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 29, 2020
Dusty Baker's contract is officially a one-year deal with a club option in 2021 that includes a buyout
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 29, 2020
Baker is an odd choice for the Astros. The organization relies strongly on analytics and Baker is about as anti-analytics as it gets.
As the Chicago Cubs manager Baker once said that getting men on base “clogs the bases.” He also heavily relies on bunting. He toned down the bunting during his tenure with the Nationals, but he’s a proponent of every old-school tactic in the book. He has become enemy number one of the analytics crowd.
It’s possible that the Astros believe that bench coach Joe Espada will be able to handle the analytics side of the game.
By retaining Joe Espada as bench coach, as first reported by @Feinsand, #Astros maintain strong link to analytics department. Dusty Baker expected to hire one coach from outside. Likely choice: Chris Speier, who was on Baker’s staffs with #Cubs, #Reds and #Nationals.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 29, 2020
He certainly has experience in that area, but he’s never worked for an anti0analyitcs manager. When it comes down to it Baker will be making the in-game calls, not Espada. The clash in philosophies makes little sense.
Yet, Baker’s record speaks for itself. He has a career record of 1,863-1,636, on a 162 game schedule that would be an 86-76 record. He’s made the playoffs at every stop he’s made in his career and has a record over .500 with every team’s he’s managed.
There’s only one thing that Baker has never done, win the World Series. Baler currently has the second most wins without a World Series. He trails only Gene Mauch’s 1,902 career wins. With Baker taking back to the field it’s a near certainty he will take hold of that top spot unless he wins a World Series in 2020.
It’s likely that Baker will be little more than a stopgap for the Astros. He only signed a one year deal and he’s 70-years-old. That said a team could do a lot worse for a one-year stopgap manager.
