Is Dusty the problem?

My opinion has always been that he’s good as some things and not others.  Jocketty defends him.

Baker’s fingerprints are all over this Reds team. He has penciled  Cabrera into the leadoff spot in 39 games, a bit more than half the  time, despite the shortstop’s execrable .281 OBP. He limited the playing  time of good defender and on-base guy Chris Dickerson to open  the season, instead playing OBP sinks Jonny Gomes and Laynce  Nix. (Dickerson subsequently broke a bone in his right wrist and is  out until at least July.) Gomes is having one of the best seasons of his  career, but as a poor defensive left fielder his .285/.342/.491 line is  less valuable than it appears. Baker does seem to have changed in one  regard: His best starter, rookie Mike Leake, has yet to reach 110  pitches in a start. So Mark Prior’s career didn’t die in vain.

Now the Reds are apparently on  the verge of signing 35-year-old Gary Matthews Jr., giving  Baker another veteran that he can use to interfere with the progress of Drew  Stubbs and Jay Bruce. Matthews is done, not even the good  fourth outfielder that he was at his peak, unable to hit from the right  side (.227 with a .359 SLG since 2007) or play a good center field. Any  at-bats that Matthews takes from Stubbs, Bruce or Chris Heisey  are wasted, and make no mistake — if the Reds sign Matthews, he will  play, because Baker likes experience.

Baker’s inadequacies  are a problem for the Reds, who find themselves as serious contenders  for the first time in a decade. They cannot afford to throw away value  on their manager’s whims, not when their primary competition, the  Cardinals, is being helmed by a man who squeezes value from his entire  roster. Tony La Russa’s approaches may not always produce the  most entertaining baseball — as much as any individual, he’s  responsible for 12-man pitching staffs and late-inning matchup baseball  that drags games past everyone’s bedtimes — but the man is constantly  looking for an edge. La Russa’s cerebral, academic approach to the game  doesn’t always yield the right answers, but you’re always left with the  idea that he’s asking the right questions.

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