Nats backing away from Bud Black over contract terms, hiring Dusty Baker instead

[weams]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/11/03/after-bud-black-negotiations-leave-the-nationals-shifting-to-dusty-baker-the-lerner-family-has-a-fiasco-on-its-hands/

"The Lerners made Jeffrey Loria appear decisive and considerate."

[weams]

Dusty Baker once smoked a joint with Jimi Hendrix. So there is that.

[SteveA]

Dusty Baker once smoked a joint with Jimi Hendrix. So there is that.

And I believe he and teammate Glenn Burke invented the high five.

[scOtt]

This is one of those moves that, if it had happened to the Orioles, would have sent the OH into orbit about the way things were handled.

Word leaked out about a week ago that the Nats were hiring Bud Black to be their manager, though an announcement would not be made until after the World Series. Since then, the local media (Washington Post, etc.) has written numerous articles about Black and what a good choice he is for the job.

Except he's not taking the job. The Nats wanted to pay him less than $2 mm over two years, he felt insulted by that, and now there's no deal.

Back to the drawing board and Dusty Baker. There have been some indications that the Lerner family preferred Baker all along, but had deferred to Rizzo, who preferred Black. But then they went cheap on Black, and now they are ending up with Baker.

There's a lot of intrigue here, and I'm sure more will come out in the next few days. But the Nats look pretty awkward here.

There's your answer right there. I left out the "but" on purpose. Lerners wanted Baker and made an intentional insulting offer to get their own way. Straight manipulation.

Which is their right. They are the owners.

[scOtt]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Barry Bonds during the 10 Dusty Baker years in San Francisco:

.311/.461/.664, 1,158 R, 437 HR, 1,096 RBI, 1,311 BB, 242 SB</p>? Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) <a href="

">November 3, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Iiiiii don't know how much Dusty had to do with that.....

[DrungoHazewood]

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So you're expecting Jayson Werth to have a huge resurgence? And Harper to put up a 2.000 OPS? Because Dusty was the real mastermind behind BALCO?

[Spy Fox]

I think Black would have been the better choice for them and this is definitely an awkward story. But Baker will probably be fine.

Williams was bad but really they just need their hitters to actually hit. Basically everyone besides Harper was bad this year, after the lineup was decent overall in 2014.

[Redskins Rick]

There's your answer right there. I left out the "but" on purpose. Lerners wanted Baker and made an intentional insulting offer to get their own way. Straight manipulation.

Which is their right. They are the owners.

So, how much are they paying Baker? the same 1.6 million?

[DrungoHazewood]

I think Black would have been the better choice for them and this is definitely an awkward story. But Baker will probably be fine.

Williams was bad but really they just need their hitters to actually hit. Basically everyone besides Harper was bad this year, after the lineup was decent overall in 2014.

The gap between the Nats and the playoffs wasn't much more than the difference between 2014 Jayson Werth and 36-year-old sub-replacement Jayson Werth.

[backwardsk]

They wind up with Mike Maddux as the pitching coach.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[scOtt]

So, how much are they paying Baker? the same 1.6 million?

If it's true that Baker was really the one the Lerners wanted then he'll get paid.

[scOtt]

They wind up with Mike Maddux as the pitching coach.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Didn't Maddux do some kind of research? Inverted W or something.

[weams]

Didn't Maddux do some kind of research? Inverted W or something.

The Lerners must've thought that it was that Curly W.