Long-time MLB manager Dusty Baker is widely respected around the baseball world. He’s also seen as a players’ manager.
So it should not come as too much of a surprise that multiple members of the Washington Nationals were reportedly upset after the team fired him earlier this month.
“Nats players are said by sources to be generally upset, unhappy that Baker got fired, but even more unhappy at the continuing upheaval and uncertainty around the team, and the perception that creates,” Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported Thursday.
There’s definitely something behind this angst. Baker averaged 96 wins in his two seasons as the Nationals’ manager. Though, it’s the postseason lack of success that forced the Nationals’ brass to move on from him. Washington lost in the divisional round to the Chicago Cubs this season, a repeat of what the team saw last season in the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Even then, 95-plus wins in each of his two seasons in D.C. likely should have bought Baker a longer leash. That’s probably why some within the team’s clubhouse are upset.
Washington has not seen a manager last more than three seasons since the great Frank Robinson manned the pine from 2002-06. Surely, the lack of continuity has to be frustrating here.