Dusty Baker may be making his return to managing as the Astros’ new skipper, per report

The Astros have been in a mess of their own making this offseason. From the fallout of their relationships with the media to the sign-stealing scandal that cost several officials their jobs including manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow, to say that the Astros have had a rough time of it is an extraordinarily kind assessment.

However, the matters at hand are who are going to be replacing these guys for the Astros. Cheaters or not, they are going to field a baseball team next season (and a talented one at that) and it has been unclear as to who will be managing them.

For the moment, at least, we have an answer to that question.

For such an analytically forward team, the hiring of Dusty Baker who is much more a traditionalist in terms of managing, the fit may seem a little odd. However, this may be the organization pulling back a bit from the molds that they had been using in recent years given how poorly that has turned out this offseason. Moreover, Baker will command instant respect in the clubhouse given his resume and he knows how to handle the media. That sort of stability and gravitas may be sorely needed in Houston right now.

That said, we don’t know for certain that Baker has the job just yet as at least one Houston beat writer has yet to be able to get confirmation that Dusty will be in an Astros uniform next season.

There hasn’t been any outright denials from the Astros or Dusty for that matter, so that seems to speak well to the chances of Nightengale’s reporting being accurate. For the moment, consider us cautiously optimistic that the long time manager of the Giants, Nationals, Cubs, and Reds will put on an Astros uniform in 2020.