After a difficult 2005 season, Dusty Baker returned to his California home from a Hawaiian vacation with a new mantra he hoped to carry into 2006:
“No worries.”
But the first half of ’06 has produced one headache after another, and now Baker’s uncertain job status threatens to be a distraction as the Cubs head into the second half of a disastrous season.
No worries, or nothing but worries?
Before he left for a brief All-Star break respite in his hometown of Sacramento, a defiant Baker sat down for a conversation about his image, his relationship with general manager Jim Hendry and his role in the Cubs’ downfall.
Tribune: Do you regret coming to Chicago?
Baker: Oh, no. I don’t regret nothing. I’ve learned a lot. I was strong before, I’m even stronger now. I learned a long time ago … like my dad says, `Don’t look backward. Make your decisions, stick with them, and don’t look backward.’
Regardless of what happens, I’ve had tremendous support from the front office, from the people who hired me. They’ve backed me and supported me on different things and issues where they didn’t have to. No, I have no regrets.
Tribune: Would you change anything you’ve done here?
Baker: Yes, I’d change us winning the World Series. Other than that, no, I wouldn’t change anything, because I’m happier now than I was at the end of those 15 years, when I was at the end in San Francisco. It’s more than me–it’s me and my family. [Coming to Chicago] was what we talked about and what we chose as a family. I didn’t make this decision by myself. No, I don’t have any regrets.
Tribune: Why have you not been embraced in Chicago the way you were in San Francisco?
Baker: I was there longer. We won more. We won my first year there, big-time, then had a tough three-year stretch and then we won for the next six years. Quite honestly, this is very similar to my tenure there. We have a different team than when I got here, and when I was there, there was a different team after the first year. In ’94 we started trading guys, and I had a young general manager in Brian Sabean, and a young GM here in Jim Hendry. We scuffled in Year 3 and Year 4, made some key acquisitions and then got back to the top.
Tribune: Why do some believe there’s a disconnect between you and Jim Hendry?
Baker: I don’t know why they think that. There’s not.
Tribune: Hendry says you were involved in all the off-season decision-making and signed off on this team. Now when you say, `Give me the horses and I’ll win,’ it suggests you weren’t given enough to win.
Baker: No, no, no. … When I said I need my horses, it’s the horses we signed on to, before [the season]. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying get me some more [players]. I have never, ever complained about my personnel, anyplace I’ve been. Have you ever heard me say, `We don’t have this,’ or `We don’t have that,’ ever?
Tribune: No, but `Give me the horses’ can be construed as you saying, `I need more players.’
Baker: No, it’s not. I don’t care how it’s construed. What I said is, `Hey, man, give me the horses, and if my horses stay healthy, I’m going to win.’ Well, my horses haven’t been healthy. [Kerry] Wood and [Mark] Prior haven’t been healthy. My main offense guy (Derrek Lee) wasn’t healthy. It’s not an alibi or an excuse, because I don’t use excuses.
They can construe it however they want to. As I’ve said, the team we started with, on paper, is not the team we started with on the field. They’re still here, they just were not here. They’re in the stable.
Tribune: But Lee is back and you’re still only 6-9 since he returned.
Baker: Yeah, but Derrek’s not Derrek yet, and Mark was just beginning to be Mark (before being sidelined by a strained oblique). And at the same time, you have to consider my bullpen is way overpitched. We don’t have a complete game, so somebody in my bullpen is out there every day. And it’s not the guys’ fault. We had a lot of young guys here out of necessity, not that they were really ready.
How many starters have we used, 11 or 12? How many of those have been kids? That’s all I’m saying. I mean, we’ve had some guys who haven’t had the years we anticipated they were going to have too.
Tribune: One of the biggest complaints about you is that, unlike Ozzie Guillen, you never criticize a player, even when it’s merited.
Baker: Publicly. That’s the difference–publicly. I criticize them to them. I am the way I am. I’m not going to be like Ozzie. Why am I going to start being like anyone else at this point in my life? I’ve done pretty good being Dusty. I don’t criticize ’em publicly.
Tribune: At one point you denied your team was underachieving, and they were 18 or 19 games under .500 at the time, and even your most vocal supporters were saying, `Come on, at least admit that much.’
Baker: Well, is that underachieving, or is that …
Tribune: Just the way they are?
Baker: (No response.)
Tribune: Well, then, aren’t you saying that you didn’t get the talent?
Baker: No, I didn’t say that. I said a lot of my talent is in the stable. There’s a difference now. I didn’t say that. You know when we started the season we had some question marks. Most teams have some question marks.
Tribune: Do you feel as though you’re unfairly portrayed or unfairly blamed? Do you accept some part of the blame?
Baker: Yeah, naturally I accept some part of the blame. Definitely. I’m the boss. That’s how it is. But look back and see how many guys have had their best years my way, from the very beginning, from when I was a batting coach in ’92 till I was a manager [in San Francisco] to today. Look it up–D-Lee, Michael Barrett and all the way back.
There have been a bunch of them. Look at Billy Swift, John Burkett, Robb Nen, Rich Aurilia. … You can go way on and on. And I wasn’t yelling and screaming at them publicly. I got on them privately, when necessary. I am the way I am.
Tribune: What’s the biggest misperception about you?
Baker: I don’t know, probably that I’m not a disciplinarian, and too nice. Go ask my daughter, my wife, my nephews, my players … understand? I’m firm, but fair. I was raised strictly. They say you end up being like your parents.
Go ask the people who know me. Go ask my godchildren who gets in their face, in my own family structure. If someone is acting bad, it’s, `I’m going to go tell Uncle Dusty.’ They know I’ll jack ’em up in a minute.
Tribune: Then why don’t you jack up Aramis [Ramirez]?
Baker: I have jacked up Aramis.
Tribune: Then why is he still not running to first base?
Baker: He’s better than he was, isn’t he? This [guy] has been doing this for a long time, OK?
The conversation ended, and Baker was gone. Temporarily?
With his team 20 games under .500 and his job status becoming a daily distraction, that’s a question only Hendry can answer.
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psullivan@tribune.com
