Yes, according to Hal McCoy:
Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker will be back next season, armed with a new multi-year contract – probably a three-year extension.
The deal could be announced before the Reds begin postseason play next mid-week for the first time in 15 years, but more likely after postseason play is completed.
A close confidante to Baker told me Wednesday, “They’re close, just a matter of dotting I’s and crossing T’s and Dusty will be back managing the Reds next year.â€Â
I have no editorial comment at this time, except to say that it was inevitable, given the fact that he was the leader of a team that is headed to the playoffs.
Question: Granted, it’s been a while since I had a reason to really pay attention to a team’s celebrating a championship….but did anyone else feel like the Reds’ post-game celebration was more, well, personal than others you’ve seen? Maybe I’m imagining – or it’s just that it was more special to me so I read more into it – but there just seemed to be more face-to-face, exchanging actual words with each other and enjoying the moment as a team than I’ve seen with other celebrations.
You can tell me I’m full of it (as long as the “it” is chosen carefully) and I won’t mind. I was just thinking about those intangibles that Dusty has that go beyond lineups and bullpen moves, etc. I think Hal McCoy said something the other day about Dusty having many critics, but none in his own clubhouse or something to that effect. I can’t deny that the “vibe” seems to have been positive all season, pretty much throughout the roster.
Any thoughts? 8)
Beleive me, I was a critic of Dusty. His line-ups, his young pitchers record (crosses self and prays)…you get the idea. Sometimes I still think I am. But he has earned a new contract with the team, and the NL Manager of the Year award. It will be laughable if someone else gets it. Hopefully, our slew of under-25 pitchers will hold up under Dusty. If we don’t lose a few more to Tommy John surgery like Volquez, the Cardinals can kiss us goodbye for the next couple of years. Oh, and the Yankees don’t buy Votto from us. Those two things.
My Dad called it “bickering” when we were kids. It makes me weary.