The Washington Nationals announced Friday Dusty Baker will not return as manager of the club in 2018.
Baker led the team to the first back-to-back division titles in franchise history, and the Nationals were 192-132 under Baker, but they failed to make it to an NLCS.
Dusty Baker won 95 and 97 games in two seasons with #Nationals. Reported salary of $2M per season was about half of what he made with #Reds.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 20, 2017
Baker is 14th in MLB history with 1,863 career wins.
The #Nats were on verge of giving Baker a 2 year extension this summer until word leaked out, but told him it would be done after year.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 20, 2017
The next Nationals' manager will be their seventh since they arrived in DC.
Only the Marlins have had as many.
"I'm surprised and disappointed," Baker told USA TODAY Sports. "They told me they would get back to me and I told them I was leaving town yesterday and they waited 10 days to tell me."
"I really thought this was my best year. We won at least 95 games each year and won the division back to back years but they said they wanted to go a different direction. It's hard to understand."
The team also announced the contracts for the Major League coaching staff have also expired, and the search for a new manager will begin immediately.
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/921427492539387904