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Not from me, but, hey, I wouldn’t have shoveled $10 million dollars at him either. Rather, the vote of confidence comes from clueless Reds owner Bob Castellini, who likely means it, as Baker is owed $3.5 million for 2010.

And, in fairness, the best manager of all-time, whoever that might be, wasn’t winning 81 games with that Reds club, ravaged by injuries and horrible GMing from Walt Jocketty. But, still. Baker hasn’t exactly HELPED matters, truth be told. For instance, Willy Taveras has the third worst OPS in MLB this year. One of the two poor bastards worse than him? Teammate Alex Gonzalez. So, on the few occasions this year that Gonzalez has been healthy, where do you suppose Dusty bats those two? Correct, first and second. It is little wonder that an already offensively challenged team is trying to set club records for offensive futility. It has been the perfect storm of incompetence and mismanagement coupled with injuries to give the Reds an outside shot of backwards catching the Nationals for the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. You almost have to stand in awe of the collective baseball malpractice that has occurred from ownership on down in that franchise this year. Kudos to them all. It is entertaining in its collective badness.

It would appear that some sort of pod person is inhabiting Dusty Baker’s body this weekend. From teh Dusty talking about what Brandon Phillips must do to be successful at the plate:

“He needs to be more selective, especially with runners in scoring position. That comes with concentration. Sometimes it seems he has made up his mind to swing before the pitch. Then he gets that reputation and pitchers are not going to throw him his pitch.”

Wait a minute. That IS what Phillips desperately needs to do in order to become a decent hitter. I assume the real Dusty Baker is locked in a closet somewhere screaming through his gag “he needs to stay aggressive”. I like pod person Dusty better.

He’s on fire this spring. He gets his own category. Teh Dusty on Jacque Jones and the aging process:

“Jacque can play,” said Baker. “Jacque can run, he hustles, he is a good outfielder. He had a down year last year just like Gomes. But they both have some track records of excellence. Just because you fall down for a while doesn’t mean that you’re through.”…

Jones will be 34 in April and Gomes is 28.

“Jones is 33? That ain’t nothing,” said Baker. “Al Campanis (former Dodger GM) told me you are in your prime from age 32 to 36. Then you stay there or go down from there depending upon body type, how you take care of yourself, injuries and desire to play.

To review (and Jones was so awful at age 33 last year that simply referring to average will be sufficient):

.165 in 24 games with Detroit and .108 in 18 games with Florida

Course, he was just starting his “prime”, so maybe better is to come. Like cracking the Mendoza line. It will completely blow when he beats out Chris Dickerson for playing time in LF.

Oh lord, why hast thou forsaken Reds fans? Oh, yeah. WLW. The city probably does deserve to be shunned for that radio station. Still. Damn. It burns.

Go Dusty:

Baker was very pleased with the baserunning work Saturday. “That’s the finest baserunning and conditioning session I’ve ever seen,” he said, “as far as technique, as far as energy, as far as training, as far as competition.”

Whoa. Even better than the legendary baserunning work of the Cubs in back aught three? Better than the gold standard for Baker teams’ baserunning work turned in by the Giants Feb. 25, 1999?

Slow down Dusty. Let’s not get people too hyped up. But, I guess it’s fair to say, the Reds have to now be the odds on favorites to win the World Series.

Second go round for Reds fans and the Dusty. Some highlights of Dusty logic already in the first five days of camp. To wit (or lack of wit):

—On Brandon Phillips batting clean-up again:

“Brandon will have a good year,” Baker said. “You struggle sometimes a little bit in third or fourth year. Brandon will readjust. Sometimes they wouldn’t throw Brandon a lot of strikes. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of it, you can’t see it. When you’re smart like Brandon, you take some time away and you step back and see things.”

Yeah, nothing like that fourth year swoon all players go through. What? They don’t? In case you were wondering, Phillips’ OPS last year against RHers was a staggering .676. Willy Taveras was almost that imposing. Why not Votto and Bruce in some order batting third and fourth? Because you have to break up lefty bats, in teh Dusty’s world.

As for pitchers not throwing Phillips strikes, well, that’s because they didn’t have to. He’d swing at anything.

—On Chris Dickerson being in the mix with retreads Jacque Jones, Daryl Ward, Laynce Nix, and holdover re-tread Jerry Hairston for playing time in LF since CF was filled up with the carcass of Willy Taveras:

“Who says left field is his?” Baker said. “What are you talking about? Is that enough to make him the left fielder?”… “The fact that you’ve done it gives you confidence,” Baker said. “He’s always had the ability everyone was always trying to figure out when he was going to pull it together. Who can outrun him? Who can out-throw him? Who’s a better defensive player? Who has more power? Who’s bigger? Who’s stronger? You look at him, you’re like: ‘Damn, what took you so long?’ But it doesn’t matter when you get it. The key is to get it.”

Handy teh Dusty translator says that all boils down to “Dickerson better hit .899 this spring if he hopes to beat out Jacque Jones. Jacque Jones!”

Plus, why should the bigger, stronger player who OPS’d 1.000 in his call-up last year have a leg up for playing time with luminaries like Jacque Jones in camp? That’s just crazy talk.

—-On the OF defensive outlook for 2009:

“We have some real speed in the outfield and there shouldn’t be many balls falling in between and in front,” he said, referring to Chris Dickerson, Willy Taveras, Norris Hopper, Jacque Jones and Laynce Nix. “The better your defense, the more strikes your pitchers throw because they know if the ball is hit, the outfield will catch it.”

I am not sure it works like that, Dusty.

—-On breaking his condo toilet and dealing with an overflow issue after presumably depositing some manly man turds:

“Usually I’m on my way to the park by 6:45 a.m., but today it was 7:30,” said Baker. “I started to get mad, man, but I said, ‘Cool it, man, it’s only 7 a.m.’”

Way to talk yourself off the ledge, Dusty. And, please, stop sharing stuff like that with beat writers.

—-On Micah Owings’ prospects of making the team because of his bat if he falls short in the scrum for the 5th spot in the rotation:

“Some guys can hit,” Baker said. “He can hit. I saw him in the cage the other day and thought he was Todd Frazier.”

Given this next quote, it might have been:

SPEAKING OF TODD FRAZIER, one of the team’s highest prospects, Baker was asked if he had talked much to him yet this spring. “Just a little bit,” said Baker. “I see him, but I hear him mostly. I hear his bat. He has a different sound in his bat. He has a different swing, but it is very effective.”

Memo to Dusty: You can use all of your senses together when evaluating your players. For what it’s worth.

—-And, finally words of wisdom on Willy Taveras:

Baker thinks Willy Taveras could hit the 100 stole base mark. “It can happen,” Baker said. “He’s got to get on base more to do it. He’s hard to throw out. He studies. He’s smarter than people give him credit for. I think he likes it that way.”

People don’t think Taveras is smart? Because he plays dumb? That information bled out of a simple question about Taveras’ stated desire to steal 100 bases this year? That probably explains the game engaged in by all who know Baker entitled “Don’t tell him anything personal”.