Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.is an American Major League Baseball manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Washington Nationals. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers to pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to the championship in 1981. He then enjoyed a 20-year career as a manager with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and now Washington Nationals. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1949
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I'm still not concerned. If it was June 12th or something, but this is eight games. It's too early to assess Juan. I'm not worried.
We're not taking anything away from the young guys, but early spring is for the young. I said the other day, the young hit fastballs now, but they hit two breaking balls out. Those weren't quality breaking balls, but you've got to hit those if you are going to hit. I've got to give them some props for not missing them.
I've known guys who go home early and, especially when you don't go to the postseason, it makes for a long, long winter. That extra month at home, you start getting ready to go back in December.
It's at a point of no decision yet. It's not a 'no,' but it's not a 'yes.' I think he's leaning toward that way. Personally, I'd rather have him go down early while he's still in baseball shape and play, and then come home in December.
Right now, it's so early that you want to get rid of whatever is in there. I was always told you start the year hurt, it makes for a long year. We're trying to get rid of whatever is in there, get it well, get it subsided and hopefully get on with it.
He's kind of in no-man's land a little bit. He's early on breaking stuff and late on fastballs. Jim Edmonds is probably in the same zone. You've got to swing your way and fight your way out of it. You can't try to press, but it's easier said than done.
He struggled early on and made a couple of young mistakes, ... The last two innings, the sixth and seventh, were when he threw the best.
We're going to miss him big time but we know we're going to get him back, too.
We're going to give him as much playing time as possible this week, so we can make up our mind. I'm sure when you get to this point in your career you consider all the possibilities, and I'm sure he's doing some evaluation of his own abilities. So, yeah, these are important days for him.
We're going to fit him in right away.
What thing with Tony? If there had been a thing, somebody would have thrown some blows or something. There was no thing. We had a discussion.
What he gave me was a consciousness on how to do it,
Usually, if he makes a mistake, they don't hit him out of the ballpark with that sinker, ... He made a mistake; that's what happens with youth. We have a young pitching staff and a young bullpen that's subject sometimes to walks and also subject to mistakes.
With the injury he had, the biggest hurdle is everything. It's an injury to his core, which controls everything: getting out of bed, getting in and out of the car, getting up and down, hitting, fielding, throwing.