Veteran manager Dusty Baker cites the pressure from “bloggers and tweeters” as a contributing factor in his retirement from the Astros after their recent playoff appearance. The ex-Houston manager was ready to be in his job for four or five years more but called it quit due to relentless online criticism.
Dusty Baker, at the age of 74, discussed his decision to step down and his perspective on the “The Steam Room” podcast, which is hosted by TNT personalities Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley.
“There was a whole bunch of criticism from 30-year-olds and bloggers and tweeters that I’m not doing this….You know, I’m kind of tired of this and tired of the scrutiny,” Dusty Barker told.
Dusty Baker’s reflection on his resignation
During the podcast, Dusty Baker reflected on the team’s history of success and expressed his disappointment about the less pleasant experiences during the last couple of months when the team wasn’t holding a significant lead.
He emphasized that fans should not anticipate winning the championship every single season. While Houston claimed the World Series title in 2022, they couldn’t maintain their 3-2 lead in the ALCS against the rival Rangers, who ultimately secured the World Series victory this year.
During the show, Dusty Baker acknowledged that every year in baseball is different. He mentioned that there was a lot of criticism from younger individuals, bloggers, and social media users about his managerial decisions. He expressed to his wife that he was getting weary of the scrutiny and discussed the idea that if he could simply manage, arriving shortly before the game and leaving shortly after without having to do pregame and postgame interviews, or he could continue managing for several more years. Dusty Baker also noted that after a while, he felt fatigued by constantly answering questions.
In 2023, Dusty Baker and the Astros clinched their third consecutive American League West division title with a 90-72 record. However, it was a closely contested race, as the Rangers put up a fierce fight throughout the season and finished with an identical record to Houston. Through a tiebreaker, the Astros managed to secure the division title.
The differences were apparent
Dusty Baker revealed that he had to make some difficult decisions during the season, and there were certain factors, such as “a couple of instances, a couple of articles, a couple of things” that influenced his choices.
Throughout the season, there were observations of potential disagreements between Dusty Baker and the front office regarding in-game decisions, particularly concerning the catcher position. He favored the 13-year veteran Martin Maldonado over rookie Yainer Diaz, even though Diaz had a significantly higher batting average than Maldonado (.282 vs. .191).
Additionally, Dusty Baker faced scrutiny for not giving outfielder Chase McCormick more playing time, despite his solid .842 OPS, which ranked fifth on the team. McCormick appeared in only 115 games during the season.
Dusty Baker emphasized that baseball is not solely about OPS (On-base Plus Slugging percentage) and hitting. He acknowledged that hitting is often crucial to winning, but he also stressed that success in baseball involves multiple facets of the game. Dusty Baker pointed out that various aspects of the game can lead to losses in one-run games or other specific scenarios. He mentioned that while everyone wanted Chas (Chas McCormick) to play, he considered the broader context of the game.
Dusty Baker achieved a .586 winning percentage during his time with the Astros but bowed down to the fan pressure. Will the Yankees manager listen to that?
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
who knows. he’s lucky enough to have a job. he’ll never resign because he knows he’s not going to be hired anyplace else. he and Kashmir are like Cashman knows that this is his last job. it almost seems it’s time for hail to sell the team because he really doesn’t care about winning cuz he has no control. if he lets these two they hired as many front office people as they did signings last winter. Rizzo judge and Rodan needed hitting didn’t get any. went with volpe and instead of singer 200 hitter or world series MVP played a rookies show that they’re no longer trade bait cuz none of them can hit their weight. we’re in trouble