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7/11/2006

DUSTY BAKER SOUNDS OFF

Kudos to the Trib's Paul Sullivan. His interview with Dusty Baker provided insight into how Dusty rolls and he asked tough questions that most fans would want answered.

While there's plenty of fodder and folly to pick apart, I think this passage fully encapsulates Dusty:

Tribune: Would you change anything you've done here?

Baker: Yes, I'd change us winning the World Series. Other than
that, no, I wouldn't change anything, because I'm happier now than I
was at the end of those 15 years, when I was at the end in San
Francisco. It's more than me—it's me and my family.



As long as he's happy, right? Perhaps this interview will hasten his departure.



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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sullivan does an awesome job of asking the right questions, and challenging Baker on his doublespeak--he signed off on the team that was put together, than when they don't win he says he needs the horses. Can't have it both ways.

Really though it's the Aramis Ramirez situation that highlights the lack of accountability under Dusty and all that is wrong and why it's time for him to go.

He continues to insist he's criticized Aramis for not hustling behind closed doors, yet Ramirez continues to dog it. So either (a) Dusty is lying or (b) Ramirez doesn't listen to him.

And either way the fact that Aramis hasn't been benched is ludicrous, and undermines any authority Dusty might have had. I woulda benched Ramrirez the next time he dogged it, and if he did it again, he can take a whole series off. Remember when Bobby Cox took Andruw Jones out in the MIDDLE OF AN INNING?!? That's a manager.

While all Dusty can offer is a weak, "He's gotten better"--there is no better, either you play hard or you don't! The fact that Dusty even acknowledges and tactitly endorses varying degrees of effort, as opposed to demanding full effort all the time, says it all.

Anonymous said...

Cox and AJones is a great example. Also, consider Ramirez' fate if he played on the South Side of town. Not only would his manager let him have it, his teammates would too.

It's also one of the reasons I wrote I don't mind if you ship him out for prospects within the next few weeks.