OR maybe he has learned that you need to rest players, not grind down your pitching staff (6-man rotation), and give more players playing time to be ready in the playoffs? When you have a large division lead, giving those bench players time...trying to keep them sharp...will benefit you in October.
The Astros fired Terry Collins after the season in which they had a late division lead and squandered it. That’s a big difference than firing Dusty Baker during the season in which the Astros have a double digit lead in the division and the best record in the AL at the moment.
Here's one: is Alex Cora a better manager than Dusty? Outside of 2018, Cora has not impressed as a manager.
Top 10 managers in wins (Dusty is 9th). Here are the Pennants/World Series wins by each: 9/5 6/3 10/3 5/1 6/4 5/3 3/2 9/7 2/0 <---- Dusty 7/4 That's a problem.
Dusty isn't getting fired. He's been pretty successful. While I'd rather he not make the lineup decisions, I think in the postseason, he's mostly made the right decisions. Coming as close as we did to the WS in 2020 was a miracle given coming off the scandal and down years across the lineup. Then we get back to the World Series missing our 2 best pitchers. Unfortunately Yordan & Bregman decided not to show up.
Oh look Scarface is throwing a tantrum about Dusty. No posts in the minor league. General discussion, former Astros, trade targets ect.. just loves a bum. Not a Stros fan. Ignore him and hopefully he'll leave
I've been on CF since 2003. Not going anywhere, buddy. I post when I feel the need. I don't feel the need to engage in many of your trade fantasies, don't care really care about former Astros (out of sight, out of mind), and the minor leagues are not my thing (eventhough im about 15 mins away from the ballpark in Sugarland). I post in the Texans, Rockets, D&D, and General Discussion. May post in other sports forums as warranted.
Most of those managers existed in a league with half the number of teams and before the existence of FA. Most do eventually win one, but not everyone can. If Alex Gonzalez could field a ground ball, he'd have been in the WS with the Cubs (plus Bartman incident). Maybe if Stephen Strasburg isn't injured, they advance in 2016. If Justin Verlander doesn't go down with TJS, maybe we win in both 2020. Maybe if LMJ & Verlander are healthy, we win in 2021.
I would be very interested to see the breakdown of win% and playoff win% That is not perfect but its better than number of pennants and World Series wins. How many of those managers were active before divisions? Before the wild cars? Before free agency? That list is apples to oranges. I like Dusty the man quite a bit. I like Dusty the manager ok. I have no idea how he is picking his lineups. They are terrible in my opinion. But I love his pitching management this year. The Astros are winning and it feels very sustainable so I'm happy.
They fired him because they nose dived into the wildcard where they promptly lost. And during that dive, Dusty was unconcerned. They fired him because he lost control of the team, also familiar Bakerism. And probably insubordination. Too.
The new apparently more-concerned replacement manager who had control of the team didn't do so well. Maybe showing concern or "controlling the team" (whatever that means) isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I think I finally figured him out. He has decided the only way to get a player out of a slump is to play them where they can do the most damage, to the Astros.
Also they told him they were going to fire the hitting coach, to which he replied "Well if you're going to fire him you might as well fire me too" so they did.
Without covid rules, the season wouldn't have 60 games. The last 2 162 game season world series champions had worse records than the Astros in 2020 after 60 games.
I'll be fair. Last year's World Series loss wasn't Dusty's fault. Our guys forgot how to hit. Like Yuli.
