Dusty Baker has had “preliminary talks” with Giants president Larry Baer about a position with the organization, the longtime manager told Jason Dumas and F.P. Santangelo of 95.7 The Game. Baker indicated he’s likely to speak with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi at some point.
The 74-year-old stepped down from managing the Astros after the season, concluding what’ll very likely be a Hall of Fame career in the dugout. Even as he moved on from the daily responsibility of managing, Baker indicated he hoped to remain within the sport in some capacity. Houston owner Jim Crane said in October they were willing to keep Baker with the Astros, though a position with the Giants may be a better fit.
Baker lives in Sacramento. Not only is that much closer to San Francisco than to Houston, but it’s also the site of the Giants’ Triple-A team, the River Cats. Some kind of special assistant job could allow him to stay involved with the MLB and Triple-A clubs while leaving the kind of personal flexibility that he couldn’t have had as a manager.
He’s also no stranger to the organization. The first 10 of Baker’s 26 seasons as a big league skipper came with the Giants. He led San Francisco to an 840-715 record between 1993-2002, overseeing five 90-win teams and the ’02 National League pennant. All three of Baker’s Manager of the Year selections (in 1993, ’97 and 2000) came during his tenure in the Bay Area.
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