From MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat :
The Los Angeles Times quoted sources saying Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker wants to take over the Dodgers if Jim Tracy doesn’t return in 2006. The Times quoted a source saying, “[Baker] would love the Dodgers to come calling and then hope the Cubs would let him go.”
“I don’t know where these things come from,” Baker (above) said Sunday about the report. “I’ve got a year and some change on my contract [with the Cubs]. I’ve never not honored a contract in my entire life. I don’t renegotiate contracts. I’ve never done that. Only one time have I ever signed before the end of the season, only one time. This is the first time since I was a player that I’ve had a contract over two years, and most of the times that was at my choice.
“I didn’t sign here for four years thinking about going somewhere else,” Baker said. “I signed here for four years because I thought it might take that long, No. 1, and, No. 2, because I wanted to make sure we saw this thing through. LA, that’s kind of out there. Sources, there’s always a source saying something. It seems like I’m in more rumors than somebody in Hollywood.”
LA? If anything, the Dodgers are worse than the Cubs right now at spending the $$$ to put together a team, and Vin Scully’s gonna be a lot harder to feud with in Chavez than Steve Stone at Wrigely. Also, I thought Dusty was notably careful to point out EXACTLY when he’s available to take over, and that he is, but that he’s not overtly looking. Dusty actually wants to win, which is probably why he won’t be a permanent fixture in Wrigely.