Nationals stars excited for new opportunity with Dusty Baker

Loaded with talent, the 2015 Nationals fell woefully short of expectations. Disappointment led to public embarrassment and unnecessary finger-pointing. A year after being named National League Manager of the Year, Matt Williams was shown the door in a desperate need for a breath of fresh air.

Enter Dusty Baker, not exactly fresh in age at 66, but exuding cool in style. With 19 strong seasons as a player and 20 more as a major league manager, Baker's reputation preceded his arrival in the nation's capital.

Baker seemed to genuinely garner the respect of Nationals players - who spoke recently at Winterfest - despite not spending one inning in the dugout with them yet.

"I'm really excited," right-hander Max Scherzer said. "I've talked to a bunch of different players across generations now and everybody has just come back and raved about him. They've talked about how personal he is in the clubhouse. I'm really excited to get to spring training to see what he's got and see how he can help our ballclub."

Veteran left fielder Jayson Werth has battled against Baker-managed teams throughout his 13-year career. Now the 36-year-old will share the same bench with him.

"I always enjoyed playing against him," Werth said. "He was a worthy adversary. To have him now on our side is going to be a lot of fun. When you watch him in the past and with him handling teams and superstar players, it speaks for itself. I think he's coming to the team at the right time and I think everyone is excited and we're looking forward to it."

Baker, who was a two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger winner, has been around some of the game's elite players since he entered the big leagues. He shared the same outfield with the legendary Hank Aaron early in his career and then proceeded to manage Barry Bonds in San Francisco, Sammy Sosa in Chicago, and Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto in Cincinnati.

Now Baker gets his shot managing Bryce Harper, the reigning NL Most Valuable Player.

"He's great," Harper said. "A lot of fun. Just laid back. He wants to win and that's the main goal. Just going into work every single day trying to get better. Everyone I've talked to who has played for him or played around him say he's a great guy, a lot of fun and a players' manager. So I'm very excited to work with him, to learn and get some things from him mentally. Just try to further my game in any way I can and he's a great manager to do that with."

Infielder Anthony Rendon probably spent more time with Baker than any other Nationals player. Just before Winterfest, the two visited the kids at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Southeast.

"He's awesome," Rendon shared. "He seems like a really down to Earth kind of guy. All of his former players and people that I've talked to, they've had nothing but positive things to say about him. It's going to be pretty exciting.

"He had a story for everything. Tal Alter, who runs the academy, he would name somebody he had an interaction with and Dusty would be like, 'Yeah, I know that guy. We did this and that together.' I'm like, 'This dude has a story for every single person.' So you know he's been around the block and you know he means well."