Bochy, Baker bring old into new age
HOUSTON — Bruce Bochy was happily retired, living outside of Nashville after moving from California with his wife, Kim, to be closer to their grandchildren.
He was a special adviser to the San Francisco Giants, a team he managed to three World Series championships from 2010-14 before stepping away after the 2019 season. Bochy’s next tough task in baseball would be writing his Hall of Fame speech.
That changed a year ago when new Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young visited Bochy in Tennessee for what proved to be a seven-hour discussion.
Bochy had no intention of returning to the dugout, but was swayed by the idea of chasing a fourth ring and working with Young.
Like so many executives, Young was an Ivy Leaguer, having graduated from Princeton. But he also pitched 13 years in the majors and intended to run the Rangers with a mix of traditional values and a respect for data, as opposed to a blind adherence to the numbers.
Now, at 68, Bochy has the Rangers in the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros and their 74-year-old manager, Dusty Baker.
“It’s good for the old guys that we’re in this situation,” Bochy said Saturday at Minute Maid Park as their teams worked out in preparation for
Game 1 on Sunday night.
Baker and Bochy are the oldest active managers in baseball. The sixth oldest is 60-year-old Rob Thomson of the Phillies. He has his team in the National League Championship Series against Arizona.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo is the young man of the group at 58.
This is unlikely to be the start of a trend. Take out the four managers still working and the average age of a major league manager is a few months over 46. Teams favor managers who will heed the advice from the analysts and play the percentages. Bochy wouldn’t have taken a job like that.
“I still have my way of doing things,” he said. “I use my gut, my instinct at times, [but] still getting all the information you can get if you go into a game.
“And if you prepare for a game, and if you prepare the right way, I think it’s easier to make those quick decisions or even use your instinct at times when you have to.”
The Astros, an organization once devoted to data, have shifted. Baker was hired in 2020 as a shield for the players once Major League Baseball unveiled the extent Houston cheated its way to a championship in 2017.
Houston has since hired a former scout, Dana Brown, as its GM. Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell also has become an influential figure within the organization.
Houston lost a seven-game ALCS against Tampa Bay in Baker’s first season, lost in the World Series in ’21, and won it all last year. For some Astros players, this is their seventh consecutive ALCS.
Baker doesn’t think his age and wisdom has necessarily played a big role in that.
“It’s overplayed,” he said. “You can’t brag — I can brag, because I’ve made it this far in age — but it has something to do with us, but mostly to do with your team and the fact that the team trusts us.”
Baker and Bochy were contemporaries as players and managed against each other more than 200 times over the years.
Baker believes it’ll be more difficult to manage this series because Bochy won’t necessarily do what’s expected.
“I’ve always said that it’s harder to manage against the person than it is against analytics or a computer,” he said. “We played Minnesota [in the Division Series]. They’re going to change their whole lineup early in the game, where a person might not change any part of their lineup . . . I respect Bruce.”
The Rangers have Jordan Montgomery and Nate Eovaldi scheduled to start the first two games. Max Scherzer, who has not pitched since Sept. 12 because of a muscle strain in his shoulder, is a possibility for Game 3 at Texas on Wednesday.
He threw in the bullpen on Saturday and went through fielding drills.
“He’s doing really well,” Bochy said.
Justin Verlander starts for Houston on Sunday. Framber Valdez has Game 2.
Scherzer and Verlander were Mets teammates at the start of the season before being swapped for prospects at the trade deadline. For Verlander, it was a return to the Astros after having played for them from 2017-22.
This will be Verlander’s sixth postseason start under Baker.
“Experience, instincts, kind of like been there before and have seen a lot,” he said. “Kind of like older pitchers, there’s instincts, they’re there for a reason. And you can trust your gut. And I think a lot of times it works out.”