The mere mention of Dusty Baker’s name when candidates began surfacing in the Nationals’ managerial search brought strong reactions from all around. Many were thrilled at the news, pointing to his impressive record as a three-time NL manager of the year. Others, however, were not quite as enthused.
Criticism emerged of Baker being too old school: Is he averse to using analytics, which have become commonplace in today’s game? Is he simply too old to take on the challenge of restoring the Nationals to prominence?
Baker touched on all those subjects at Thursday’s introductory press conference, and so did general manager Mike Rizzo.