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 not sure where my career is going here in Cincinnati.
I got no one to root for. I sure as heck ain't rooting for the White Sox or Cardinals.
I'd like to get it done, most definitely. I'm sure he'd like to get it done. We'd like to keep him here, and he'd like to stay here. They're not called negotiations because people agree right off the bat. Sometimes these things take a little time.
No. 1, you have to make sure he's OK so this thing doesn't linger all year long. Fortunately for us, he did get some at-bats during the World Baseball Classic and the fact that he did pretty well shows he's not that far off. He saw better quality pitching in that than he would down here. It was to his advantage and ours that he did play.
I would say he's not where he was last year at this time, yet. Sometimes you have to hit with your mind. I'm sure he can do it.
Carlos was awesome last night. It seemed like he was having fun and it seemed like the team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went.
Carlos was awesome. It seemed like he was having fun, his team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went. It's huge. It's probably bigger than the Sox-Cubs rivalries.
His velocity appears to be up, his location was good. I'm sure he's not happy about not covering first base. He's been working on it, and we've been making him very conscious of it, but the way he falls off, I don't know, it just looks like he has a lapse or something. Other than that, he threw the ball good.
He likes doing that. He's actually been pretty good at it. Right now, we're using him like that. I'm not sure if that's how he'll pitch. We're trying to get guys innings.
He went that long on a team that's not playing well without being re-signed. I'm sure it came through his mind. Whenever anybody gets fired, it's tough.
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.
You know it's there, but you don't really see it. Guys don't discuss it or talk about it much. It's something you have little control over. I'm sure some guys are conscious of it and aware of it, but until it happens, you can't do anything about it.
He's working his butt off trying to get back. He always works. He's trying to get back and help us. I'm sure it's eating him up not to be out there.
I'm sure there is no miracle drug that's going to make it go away right away.