Dusty Baker is 74 years old, and easily the oldest manager in baseball as of this writing. Despite that, Baker has taken his team to yet another ALCS, and seeks to win the World Series for the second straight season.
That goal hasn't gotten off to the best of starts, as the Astros trail by two games to the Texas Rangers heading to Arlington later this week. Assuming Houston is unable to make a comeback -- which is a major assumption given this is the Astros we're talking about -- could Baker look for a job elsewhere?
Baker's made some controversial decisions this season, including leaving Chas McCormick on the bench a bit longer than his center fielder would have liked. His allegiance to Martin Maldonado is puzzling at times. Still, he is one of the more sound veteran minds in the game. Many teams would love to have a manager like Baker, including his old team, the San Francisco Giants.
Would Dusty Baker leave the Astros for the SF Giants?
Baker has signed a series of one-year deals with Houston, a sign that he likes to take matters one season at a time. That suits himself and Jim Crane quite well. There's no guarantee that Baker, even if he should win a World Series in 2023, would want to stay in Houston for another year.
Baker led the San Francisco Giants to the pennant back in 2002, and came one game away from winning it all. The divorce was ugly, as are most managerial ends. Baker pulled Russ Ortiz in a Game 6 decision that proved costly. He was then removed as manager -- rather surprisingly, I might add -- thanks to a coup led by the late former Giants managing partner Peter Magowan.
Dusty returned to the organization after that briefly as an advisor before taking the Houston managerial role. If there are no hard feelings, a return could make a lot of sense for both sides.
