Win or Leave

The Nationals announced Dusty Baker will not manage the team in 2018:

Here's the statement from the Nationals on Dusty Baker and his coaching staff… http://pic.twitter.com/pR29C34TwZ

— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) October 20, 2017

It’s not clear if the Nationals let him go or Baker decided he didn’t want to stay. I was not a big fan of Baker as a manger with the Giants and Cubs, but he seemed to get better with age. I can’t really fault him for the Nationals going out in the first round two years in a row. The players liked him, he gave them plenty of rest, he worked through numerous injuries, basically all the things a manager should do.

It may be age related. He will be seasonal age 69 in 2018. While that’s much younger than it was 30 years ago, it’s not young. It’s possible that one of the managers let go may interest the Nationals, just as the Cubs jumped at the chance to get Joe Maddon a few years ago. Stay tuned.

It would appear the Nationals have a two year win or leave policy. At least when Davy Johnson and Matt Williams were fired, the team regressed in the second year.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2zEpt9m