CINCINNATI (AP) -Dusty Baker has interviewed with the Cincinnati Reds for their vacant managing job, according to a person within the organization familiar with the search.
Baker was out of baseball last season, but is eager to get back into a managing. In an interview with The Associated Press this summer, he said he would wait for “the right spot” in picking his next job.
The Reds are coming off their seventh straight losing season, their longest such slump in a half-century, and are looking to develop stability in an organization that has had two owners, three general managers and four managers since 2003.
Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky has declined to discuss candidates under consideration. Baker was interviewed recently, according to the person within the organization, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ballclub’s policy of not confirming candidates.
Baker didn’t return a message left on his cell phone Friday.
Interim manager Pete Mackanin has been told he’s under consideration for the job, but the organization wanted to look at outsiders as well. Mackanin took over when Jerry Narron was fired in July, and the Reds went 41-39 the rest of the way – second to the Cubs in the NL Central over that span.
The 58-year-old Baker was fired by the Cubs after they finished last in 2006. Lou Piniella replaced him and led the Cubs to the division title this season. Chicago was swept in its first-round playoff series against Arizona.
Baker managed the Giants for 10 years, leading them to the World Series in 2002. He left San Francisco after a falling out with ownership and went to the Cubs, leading them to the NL championship series in his first season.
Chicago had another winning record in 2004, its first back-to-back winning seasons in more than three decades. But the team unraveled in his last two years, and the Cubs didn’t renew his contract after an NL-worst record of 66-96 in 2006.
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