NEWS/RUMORS Thread

Dusty's nothing special as a manager. Easily better as a player. Solid, little option for talented vet teams with weird clubhouses that have issues because most respect him, but thats it. Needs to retire that GD toothpick FFS

 

Speaking of Reds, somebody has to step in and save Votto, right? Probably the best hitter in the NL over the last 10 years and shit to show for it..other than an eventual successful hall of fame bid. Bet he wishes Jeter had bought the Reds. Somebody has to go ahead and trade for this guy..hopefully not SFG though..

 

Almost every pitcher on the staff regressed from last year. So, not necessarily a bad fire. Of course, their hitting coach did a poor job too. Worst OBP in a series since 1905? Wow.

 

Nothing special as a manager, just 14th on the all-time list. Lol.
The only guy than even comes near Baker of existing managers, is Bochy.
I personally don't care about him, but whether you like him or not, his numbers are undeniable.
The rest of the guys are bb icons, then him.

 

I don't know if Joc was genuinely happy for Kike or if he was he playing up for the camera. I do know that that's part of the culture that Doc's put in place, so maybe. But we don't need players to be all lovable, corny and light in the ass. We just need players who can buy into a team approach when they show up to work and get their work done. Both Kemp and Hanley were selfish fucks and out they went, rightfully. Puig was heading down that same path until the FO straightened him out and salvaged his career. Dusty's not really a guy who builds a culture. Dusty's a babysitter who sort of specializes in dealing with egocentric ballclubs..he's normally sought out by clubs with talented rosters that have character flaws. Nobody hires Dusty for his in-game managing ability, its average at best. Current guys who build cultures, who consistently get things done with their in game management..Tito Francona, Showalter, Bochy, Matheny, Girardi, Maddon, our old friend with the Halos as well as 2 or 3 others. All better than Dusty in most facets of management. Nobody's turning a talented, young team over to a Dusty Baker. Its time the Nats purge that roster and turn it over to someone who can build a culture over the next couple years. They're in a tricky situation since Harper would represent a large part of that rebuild, but those are the cards they're dealt. The faster they flip the page, the sooner they have a chance to be where LAD is at now. LAD did its purge, found it's culture builder and came out clean.

 

There are murmurs that the firing of Bosio in Chicago is the first move of what is expected to be a busy offseason for the Cubs. They were saying on MLBRadio that Epstein is apparently pissed and may do more of an overhaul than what was expected. The belief is that he is going to go hard for Darvish, Otani and use some of his MLB depth to land a good young starter for the rotation. The feeling is that Baez is the likely candidate to go since Happ showed his bat will play in MLB and he is also a 2B. I’m also going to guess that they’ll try to move Heyward for whatever salary relief they can get, plus Zobrist may be dangled.

 

He should be pissed. LAD made the Cubbies look vastly inferior in whats supposed to be a rivalry moving forward. Cubbies looked rag tag by the final 3 games. Hopefully, we'll find out how LAD handles championship success. Cubbies didn't do too well with that.

 

I understand the argument...like what they were saying about Kershaw. “The best pitcher to never go to a World Series” until he did.

Dusty is “one of the greatest managers never to win a World Series” until he does.

But with Dusty, it’s different. The way he’s lost in the post season with the Gnats (pulling his SP who was hot....and ending up losing Games 6 and 7...just one example), the Cubs (the meltdown after the Bartman incident), and the Nationals (in epic fashion with both the Dodgers and Cubs)....it’s like when the headaches starts, it’s deer in the headlights time.

Yeah, players do the playing....so blame the players for these collapses. I get it. But if that were the case, then the reverse is true, a manager may not mean that much for wins and losses, which would make Dusty’s manager stats moot.

 

It was how they lost that last game that would have had me pissed. How would we feel in a close out game getting CRUSHED like that and by people like Kike?

I would have tried to trade the entire team too.

 

Yeah, they were saying that he had been telling people that he expected the team to repeat and the stuff at the end of the series shot him off the rails. Bryant coming out and saying the team was tired, was something that apparently set off these events where the much loved pitching coach was fired within 48 hours of the season ending. Luckily their farm is thin, so they’ll have to either weaken the MLB roster or pay the high FA prices to fill holes. Hopefully nobody gives them an all star closer again for a fucking shitty platoon OF’er.

 

The Cubs are going to steal some star player for that glorified scrub Baez, huh?

 

I will say this..beware. Theo is dangerous when he's aggressive and although their farm is thin, they can pull from the big club and they have money. A swap for Stanton or Votto could help that lineup immensely. As much as they need pitching, its not like they were hitting. Either way, LAD is in better shape, but as we know..any given year something extraordinary can take shape.

 

^ Maybe CK will finally start his first ASG lol

 

Oh, I agree that managers should go when a team expected to win fails, especially year after year...just like the Dodgers have, past seasons.
I made many posts about getting rid of the clumsy Mattingly and HoF manager, Joe Torre. Talk about wearing guys out and destroying their arms...Joe was king.
But I was basically told (same as what you wrote in your post) " the manager doesn't play..not his fault his guys don't, blah, blah"...then the FO had enough, too. I guess the "heir apparent" thing was a championship bust.
Maybe Baker does have a stranglehold on getting replaced, but his numbers are flat out elite amongst managers...assuming one uses winning ballgames as a criteria. Bobby Cox comes to mind. Pretty sure managers aren't moot in their function and importance to a team.
As I wrote, I don't care much about Baker at all, basically an enemy general, really.
But I don't think his toothpick is a character flaw.