Dusty Baker just laid bare tension with Astros front office during World Series run

For many Houston Astros fans, Dusty Baker's legacy as manager is a complicated one. During a very difficult time for the franchise, Baker came in and immediately stabilized the Astros' clubhouse. He also went to two World Series, including a win in 2022, during four seasons — which is pretty wild when you think about. Baker was also infuriatingly stubborn when it came to decision-making and oftentimes ignored common sense. Baker is now telling his side of the story.

Baker has been retired for a while, and he seems intent on making sure his point of view during his time as Houston's manager is told exactly how he saw it. Baker has a chapter in an new book from Scott Miller about himself and Cito Gaston and being black managers in MLB and the lack of black coaches across the league. In that chapter, Baker revealed that his relationship with the front office as Astros' baseball operations was strained due to some of his decisions during their World Series run.

Dusty Baker just revealed that the Astros tried to prevent some of his most controversial moves

In fairness to Baker, it is hard to argue with his results. He said rather bluntly that "no one" wanted him to play Yuli Gurriel during the 2022 postseason and the Astros first baseman ended up being one of the team's best hitters during the playoffs. Even the much-maligned Martin Maldonado chipped in during Game 6 of the World Series after doing next to nothing all season long.

However, Baker seems to conveniently ignore other some things. Yes, the Astros did win a World Series and get to the Fall Classic the year before, but a lot of that had to do with the talent on Houston's roster in spite of some of Baker's decisions. The fact that Baker actually cited continuing to play the corpse of Maldonado when he was one of the worst catchers in baseball as a success story was truly wild to see in print.

Even with Baker's explanations, it sure seems like the Astros' operations staff had some good ideas that their manager chose to ignore. Baker is right that numbers can't predict everything in baseball, but that doesn't mean that the choices Baker made were good, nor does it excuse him from his role in the tension with the powers that be. Ultimately, it seems like the two sides did good work together, but it was also best for both to move on.

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