Dusty Baker surprised by firing, doesn't plan to retire

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Reds wanted Dusty Baker to resign.

He refused.

They wanted him to call it a career?

He's not ready.

They wanted him to fire his hitting coach, Brook Jacoby.

He declined.

So the Reds fired Baker.

The Red announced the firing Friday, and Baker spent the day at his condominium in Cincinnati gathering his belongings after six years there.

"It's going to take a couple of days just to pack my stuff up,'' Baker told USA TODAY Sports. "I wasn't ready for this. I really wasn't. I thought I'd still be here.''

Instead, despite leading the Reds to the playoffs for the third time in four seasons, Baker was fired after Reds lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a wild-card game.

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty originally told reporters that Baker would be retained, with $4 million remaining on his two-year, $8 million extension.

Those plans changed Thursday.

Jocketty and Reds owner Bob Castellini met Baker and thought it was best he step down, saying they were concerned about his health, after suffering a stroke the previous winter. Baker told them he felt fine. He still had plenty of energy.

Baker told them his doctors provided their blessing for him to continue managing.

"I am not retiring,'' Baker told USA TODAY Sports. "I am not taking a year off. I feel better now than I did a year go at this time. I got a clean bill of health. They said I'm doing great.

"Please, let everybody know, I still plan on managing.''

It just won't be in Cincinnati.

"If you were around,'' Jocketty told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "you kind of saw that it didn't look like players were responding. We felt a new direction, a new voice might be necessary.

"It was a tough decision. We appreciate and respect what Dusty did the six years he was here. But we just felt that the way things went toward end, that it was evident we needed to make a change and try improve on the performance for next year.''

Jim Riggleman, the Reds' Class AAA manager in Louisville and former manager of the Washington Nationals, is the favorite to replace Baker. Pitching coach Bryan Price is also a strong candidate. And, no, Tony La Russa, who won two World Series championships with Jocketty in Oakland and St. Louis, has no interest in returning as manager.

Baker, 64, says he still believes he should be the one returning, winning at least 90 games in three of the last four seasons. But the Reds' six consecutive losses to end the season doomed his fate, Jocketty said.

"It really was a tough decision," Castellini told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I had a good relationship with Dusty. He's a hell of a guy, a real renaissance man. But it wasn't working with this particular team, at this particular minute. You've got to make a change.

"Did you see the team playing with great passion, vigor and confidence? And as a team? I don't think that anyone can say that positively. I think it was apparent that they were not playing up to their potential."

Certainly, it wasn't Baker's fault that the Reds played most of the season without ace Johnny Cueto, left fielder Ryan Ludwick and setup relievers Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton.

Baker talked plenty of times with power-hitting first baseman Joey Votto, trying to get him to focus more on being a run producer instead being transfixed on his on-base percentage, but he finished with just 73 RBI.

In the end, someone had to be blamed for the Reds' early departure, and Baker was the easy target.

"I'll be fine,'' Baker said. "I will be. Things happen for a reason, who knows.

"All I know is that I'm not done yet.

"I'll be back.''