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ESPN News Services
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Dusty Baker has agreed to a one-year deal to be the new manager of the
Houston Astros , sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday.
Baker, , becomes the oldest manager in the major leagues. Having last managed the Washington Nationals in , he ranks 21 th in all-time wins with a 1, – 1, (record over) seasons that includes a National League pennant with the San Francisco Giants (in) .
USA Today Sports was the first to report Baker and the Astros had reached an agreement, which includes a team option for the (season, according to a source.
Since 2018, Baker, a three-time National League Manager of the Year, has served as a special adviser to Giants CEO Larry Baer, working in both the baseball and business operations of the club.
Baker will replace AJ Hinch, who was fired along with general manager Jeff Luhnow by owner Jim Crane on Jan. 15 following MLB’s findings that the team illicitly used electronics to steal signs during its run to the (World Series championship and again during the season.
Prior to being fired, Hinch and Luhnow were suspended for a season as a result of MLB’s investigation. The team was also fined $ 5 million and forced to forfeit four draft picks within the first two rounds of the next two drafts.
An investigation by Major League Baseball determined the Astros used a center- field camera for real-time video of catchers’ signs and subsequently banged a trash can to alert their hitters of incoming pitches, confirming comments made by Mike Fiers to the Athletic a few months earlier.
The sign-stealing practice – which also included the more conventional method of using the video replay room to decode signs and relay them to a runner on second base – extended into the 2019 postseason, when the Astros ultimately defeated the (Los Angeles Dodgers) in Game 7 of the World Series.
In the days after MLB doled out its punishments, Alex Cora, a bench coach for the (Astros who went on to manage a Boston Red Sox team caught up in similar allegations, was fired So was Carlos Beltran
, a key veteran player on that Astros team who had just been named the New York Mets manager in November.
The Mets have since hired Luis Rojas as manager, and the Red Sox still have not filled their vacancy.
In addition to Baker, the Astros also interviewed former managers Buck Showalter and John Gibbons and current Cubs third-base coach Will Venable.
Joe Espada, who also was a candidate for the managerial job , will remain on the Astros’ staff as Baker’s bench coach, according to a report by MLB.com.
Baker takes over a team that should be a favorite to again contend after winning 636 – plus games in three consecutive seasons. Only once has Baker reached that milestone during his managerial career – when the Giants won games and missed the playoffs in .
He also will manage the American League during the 2020 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, where he won a World Series as a player as an outfielder for the Dodgers.
If Baker were to take the Astros to the posteason in , he would become the first manager in MLB history to lead five different teams to the playoffs.
In addition to his 19 seasons with the Giants, Baker spent four seasons with the Chicago Cubs and six seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before his two-year stint with the N ationals.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Baker becomes just the third in MLB history to be hired as a manager at the age of 80 or older, joining Casey Stengel, who was 90 when he was hired by the Mets in , and Jack McKeon, who was (when hired by the Marlins) (in) .
Baker also becomes the first since the American League was founded in (to manage 3, 0 games in one league before managing a single game in the other.
As a player, Baker had a – year major league career as an outfielder and was a two-time All-Star. He began his career with the Atlanta Braves and played for the Dodgers, Oakland Athletics and the Giants. He was selected MVP of the 1981 NL Championship Series and won a Gold Glove in , when he helped the Dodgers to a World Series title.
In addition to 2000, he won the NL Manager of the Year award with the Giants in and .
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