Baker a Viable Candidate? Padres to Hire Other?

I’ve taken a lot of grief for suggesting that Dusty Baker is not a bad managerial candidate.

Let’s back up.

During last season I thought it was unwise for the Chicago to retain Dusty when it so obvious they needed to make a change. Dusty had clearly “lost” his team. And finding someone who could be an interim manager would also allow the Cubs to give a qualified coach a trial run.

Fast-forward… When Dusty was fired, at least one talking head suggested the Padres would be an ideal new home for Dusty if the Padres were actually subtly showing Bruce Bochy the door. I nearly flipped.

Then when Bochy did actually take the Giants managerial job and Bud Black, Trey Hillman, and other names came out, I forgot all about Dusty Baker. …Until, that is, we found out Baker actually was a managerial candidate.

Now let’s talk about another related subject. I haven’t wanted to talk about it. I haven’t wanted the pity-party – I still don’t. But I’ve been out of work for quite awhile now. I have fourth interview today (Wednesday) and I am expecting an offer from this company. Obviously I’ve done several rounds of interviews with several companies… I can tell from experience, when good interviewers are asking questions they effectively hide what kind of answers they want.

So if Kevin Towers is asking Baker about his past, his vision for the future, how he intends to mold his team (whether it’s the Padres or another team), how to handle pitchers, etc. Tower won’t ask, “So, Dusty, what do you think about pitch counts?” The question reveals the desired answer.

Now, if Dusty Baker can honestly show/demonstrate how he can align his managing philosophies with what the Padres want to do, then I would not object to having a manager with Baker’s motivation/communication skills.

Having said that, I still prefer Trey Hillman.

We know that Towers interviewed all six candidates (Baker, Hillman, Black, Ron Wotus, Tim Wallach, and Jose Oquendo) and that John Moores and Sandy Alderson met with Hillman in Japan. Now we learn that Black had a second interview as well. And that, “Alderson said he didn't have plans to meet with any of the other candidates, ‘but that could change in the morning.’"

I think we can conclude that Alderson expects to hire either Black or Hillman.