Process was a mess, but Baker’s hiring isn’t a mistake

Had the Nationals simply hired Dusty Baker all along, had they picked him over Bud Black last week and agreed to contract terms, few eyebrows would have been raised. It would have been viewed both here in town and throughout the baseball world as a solid choice, a proven and successful manager taking the reins of a club that despite its obvious issues remains positioned to win in both the short- and long-term.

Hiring Baker isn’t the problem. The process by which he was hired is the problem.

For all the progress they’ve made in their near-decade owning the Nationals, members of the Lerner family have yet to fully grasp the importance of managerial job security. We’ve seen this play out far too…