Of course, that was a couple of years after Kent won said MVP award and his ego had grown quite a bit and more and more players were annoyed by him (far more so than Bonds).

How prophetic many of us have been about our Giants.

I also think it’s silly to bring up Kent in this context. When I think of Bonds, Kent, and Baker, I think of Barry choking Kent in the dugout while Dusty looked on. That didn’t look like a manager who promoted Kent at the expense of Bonds. Looked more like someone who thought Kent was getting what he deserved.

I wouldn’t say Dusty Baker is a great, or even a good, manager. But the biggest part of the blame for the Giants’ problems, IMO, has been Sabean. We can chew Dusty’s ass for playing Neifi or Dunston, but it’s Sabean who continues to fill his rosters with the likes of those two. For better or worse, one of Baker’s last acts as a Giant was to take the team within a few outs of winning the World Series. He’s been gone for going on six years now, the team is worse than ever, and Sabean is still around. A GM of the “caliber” of Sabean can do a lot more to damage a franchise than can a manager like Baker. Even if Baker has become “the most damaging manager in the game,” he hasn’t done as much damage as Brian Sabean does every time he shows up for work.

I liked Dusty when he was with the Giants, but what he’s done since then makes him perhaps the most damaging manager in the game. So well put, how on earth can one not see Bonds standing on first day after day and not think that benefits the club A LOT. I mean, this is conventional wisdom dating back to the 1880s (even if they looked at walks differently) – the point is to get on base.

And, I’m not saying this is all Dusty’s fault, but you have to wonder if Shawn Estes, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior might want to ring Dusty’s bell. TNSTAAPP, but those guys had a hell of start to their careers that came up to nothing. Where was the Buddha of baseball when Estes was losing his mind?