Dusty manages the regular season holistically. He isn't try to win any individual game without looking at the big picture. He has faith in Vets to turn it around and most of the time, that faith has paid off. That being said, I have more faith in Chas than Dusty has.
I get questioning individual decisions Dusty has made but he's gotten this team to 3 ALCS, the best record in the AL and winning close games. He's doing a pretty damn good job overall. Plus the man is a living legend. There would be nothing better than capping off a long storied career than a World Series Championship in Stros Pinstripes for him.
Look at the record and not just with the Stros. He’s not an analytics guy and is definitely a players manager. He was brought in with the Stros a demoralized team and turned the 2020 season around and since then a WS appearance with another in the wings.
Dusty has been an amazing postseason manager since he got here. His frustrating lineup choices are curtailed when it matters. He's always been an amazing manager of people, when he's sticking to the plan with player usage (save for his inability to quit Dubon in CF) you really can't do any better.
After 7 playoff games, Yuli's at .367/.367/.567 with a 168 wRC+. Let's hope the Yuli vindication tour continues.
Rewatching the trophy presentation from last night and one thing you can tell is that Dusty loves this team and they love Dusty. He isn't one of these coaches that focuses on analytics, his system, or tries to control his players. He's about developing a personal connection with his players. That's why he was the perfect manager to take over this team in 2020 with the team dispirited and the rest of the league hating them. Dusty was the guy to not only win back the respect of the legue but also get to the team to believe in themselves.
This. Additionally, this "he's a bad manager but" crap is just nonsense. Bad managers do not get to this point this many times. They just don't. Circumstances and bad luck might prevent them from finishing the job...even some individual bad decisions. But bad managers do not lead teams to 3 ALCS in a row, winning 2 of them...especially coming out of the mess that he inherited.
This team had been to 3 in a row before he got here, and then took a step backwards in regular season quality as he made many sketchy decisions his first two years in the regular season, so it’s not like he turned water into wine around here.
I never said he turned them from a bad team to a good one. But to continue the success isn’t nothing. There are likely a lot of teams that would take him as their manager right now.
He's the manager that we watch most and his decisions get ridulously micromanaged. Other managers make similarly head scratching decisions Baker is perfectly fine for the Astros at this point in their history. When people are still complaining that he batted Goodrum 3rd a few times in the beginning that's a bit of overkill. His most head scratching moves to me are not starting Chas more against LHP and whatever makes anyone in the organization think that Dubon is a better CF than Chas. I just don't see any noticeable upgrade. His pitching management had been masterful all year. Too many posters blame Baker for the losses and don't give him credit for the wins (they win in spite of Baker). Bottom line....Astros won 106 games and are 7-0 in the playoffs. Baker deserves and has earned the right to stay.
The announcers in one of the games in this last series commented on that. Saying that by playing him against a lot of RHP, it prevents him from developing habits that would pigeonhole him into a hitter that can only hit lefties. Who knows if there's merit to that, but both of his HRs in the postseason have been off of RHP.
Right. I think Baker did some experimenting during the season just to see what he had as well as to get guys used to situations. He gave Dubon every chance to step up and be more reliable and now that it's playoff time, Dubon hasn't sniffed a start.
