Dusty Baker brings much-needed personality and leadership to Nats (updated)

Later this morning, the Nationals will officially usher in the Dusty Baker era with a press conference, which will be carried live on MASN at 11 a.m. Most of the questions - at least early on - figure to be dominated by searching for a clearer explanation on how the Nationals seemingly botched the hiring of Bud Black as manager only to turn back to Baker. Good luck getting an answer.

Either way, last Wednesday night, the Nationals had found their man in Black. The 66-year-old Baker was disappointed, feeling that Washington was a perfect city to take over a team with a World Series run still left in it. But by the weekend, the Nats had yet to make an announcement on hiring Black. Then came reports that insulting contract offers submarined a potential deal with Black and suddenly Baker was back in the picture. By early Tuesday morning, the Nationals hired Baker as their sixth full-time manager since moving to Washington in 2005.

Last night, Baker made his first public appearance in the nation's capital, taking in the Wizards' win over the Spurs with general manager Mike Rizzo, while receiving a welcoming cheer when introduced at the Verizon Center.

"Glad to be here," Baker tweeted. "#dcRising #DustyInDC."

How about that - Baker gave himself a hashtag. As his superstar slugger Bryce Harper would say, "Swag." Just the fact that Baker uses Twitter is refreshing. Does it mean that he's going to be a great manager? Of course not. But what it does give some insight on is a skipper that will be able to communicate from locker to locker throughout the Nationals clubhouse.

Baker is considered a player's manager. Matt Williams, who played for Baker in San Francisco, was not. Williams always seemed terribly wound up around the field, usually standing on the dugout steps with his fists balled up and arms tightly crossed across his chest. By the end of every game from Day One of spring training, he was emotionally spent, only able to utter clichéd phrases about "tomorrow."

It was the wrong approach for a team already burdened by heavy expectations and lacking a bona fide leader in the clubhouse. Beyond that, Williams - who was a self-motivated All-Star during his playing career - never found a way to relate to the Nationals players, something desperately needed throughout a 162-game season.

So before the technical part of the game comes into the picture, Baker will sort out the human part by changing the culture of the Nationals clubhouse for the better. Baker is a direct communicator who understands the balance of when to go tough and when to keep it light.

Baker's 19-year career in the majors began playing in the outfield in Atlanta with Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. He appeared in three World Series with the Dodgers, winning the Fall Classic in 1981.

In his 20 seasons as a manager, Baker won division titles with the Giants, Cubs and Reds, taking San Francisco to the World Series in 2002 only to lose in seven games to the Angels. And he's managed some of the game's greatest players and fiery personalities in Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Joey Votto.

But when the Nationals stunningly changed course away from Black and toward Baker, many were unhappy. Instantly, people feared for the futures of right-handers Stephen Strasburg and Lucas Giolito. After all, Baker is still blamed for flaming out stud pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Pryor while managing the Cubs from 2003-2006. He is still criticized for running pitchers into the ground with high pitch counts from his days in the Windy City.

However, it seems like Baker changed his ways of handling the starting pitchers when he became Reds manager in 2008. According to FanGraphs.com, Reds starters made 24 starts with 120-plus pitches during Baker's six seasons in Cincinnati. That was a lower number than Baker's starters totaled in 2003 in Chicago alone. From 2008-2013, the Reds ranked 10th in baseball in games with starters tossing 120 or more pitches, five starts above the league average of 19.

The negative reaction to Baker's hiring was somewhat understandable considering Black was a former major league starting pitcher who won a World Series as a player with the Royals in 1985 and then coached the Angels staff to a World Series title over Baker's Giants in 2002. Black had a good history managing his pitchers in San Diego during his eight-plus seasons as manager, so naturally he was seen as a good fit to rebuild the Nationals bullpen while overseeing the likes of Max Scherzer and Strasburg.

But the Nationals attempted to quickly defuse any questions about Baker's handling of pitchers by inking Mike Maddux to coach its staff of arms. Maddux - who pitched for 15 seasons in the majors - is considered one of the game's best pitching minds after coaching the staff in Texas over the past seven seasons.

In the baseball world where quant jocks are running more and more baseball front offices, Baker's approach to the game seems more about instinct rather than what's learned in an MIT lab.

"On-base percentage just to clog up the bases isn't that great to me," Baker once said while managing the Cubs.

Harper is obviously an OBP machine, leading the league in 2015. So was Bonds for Baker in San Francisco and Votto in Cincinnati. A healthy Anthony Rendon should also provide plenty of the run-scoring opportunities, which Baker desires.

But the key is the personality that Baker infuses into the Nationals clubhouse instantly. He loves music, speaks fluent Spanish and desired to manage in D.C. for the cultural aspect of the city, not just the baseball part. Heck, he even invented the high-five. High-five? What's that? I never saw Matt Williams give one.

Update: The Nationals have agreed to terms with Davey Lopes as first base coach. Lopes was also the Nats first base coach in 2006.