Dusty Baker had a conference call today with the Reds beat media (via Rosecrans):
On recruiting free agents:
“I haven’t been recruiting. Two days ago, I was on a plane.  I got a package yesterday. I’ve got to see who is a free agent.”
However, Dusty did say he’s talked to Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, but it wasn’t about coming to Cincinnati.
“I probably talked to 40 players who called to tell me congratulations. I talked to Mark, but we were talk about his family and well-being, since he lives in San Diego. I’ve talked to a number of guys who live in that area  Jacque Jones, Dave Stewart, Phil Nevin. I was talking to him about his house and family.
“I didn’t talk to Kerry directly, he sent me an email saying congratulations. I told him, ‘I’ll see you down the line.’ It was construed as if I was talking to someone about baseball. The fire and their well-being outweighed baseball.”
Here’s the quote from the original press conference (before anything was burning in San Diego, btw):
Baker said “a number of players…called me about coming to Cincinnati.â€Â
“I can attract players to come here,†Baker said.
I have no idea how the media got the idea that players were calling Baker “about coming to Cincinnati.” He was definitely “misconstrued.”  ÂÂ