In a turn of events away from Bud Black, the Washington Nationals have hired Dusty Baker as their new manager replacing the ousted Matt Williams.
Baker will reportedly sign a ‘multi-year deal’ according to James Wagner of the Washington Post after a reported low ball of Black for 2-years and $2 million.
Actually, and now it's official: Baker will be the Nats sixth manager in history. He gets "a multi-year" deal.
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) November 3, 2015
The hiring of Baker doesn’t really seem like a surprising choice after things fell through with Black, the team clearly was going after a veteran manager. It doesn’t however move the needle a whole lot or probably get Nationals fans excited. Baker has had his success in the MLB winning the pennant with the Giants, taking the Cubs to the playoffs and obtaining two division titles with the Reds. Ultimately though Baker could never close the deal on any further success and may be more known for his at times oblivious use of the bullpen.
You also don’t want to stretch out Baker’s success too much.
Currently, Baker has a .526 winning percentage over almost 3200 games with plenty of first round knockouts. And with this current Nationals roster, just simply getting the playoffs still shouldn’t be good enough.
