"The Reds and Dusty Baker officially announced the two-year contract extension that had been agreed to last week.
The announcement was made this afternoon at a Great American Ball Park press conference held prior to the team's first postseason workout by Reds President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Castellini and President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty.
The Reds also offered two-year deals to the entire coaching staff.
“You need continuity,” Baker said. “Continuity of staff. Continuity of clubhouse, the training staff. The grounds crew. Everyone in the organization. Thats something I learned a long time ago from Bill Walsh.”
Baker, 61, is 243-243 in three seasons with the Reds and 1,405-1,284 in a 17-year Major League career that includes four division championships with three teams, including the San Francisco Giants (1997, 2000), Chicago Cubs (2003) and now the Reds.
“I think we got here sooner than a lot of people thought,” Jocketty said. “I think a lot of it is due in part to Dusty's leadership, his hard work and his staff. It's a great situation for this organization to be in the postseason after a long absence. We believe we're in a good position to be the playoffs and contention for many years to come. We want Dusty to lead our troops in that battle.”
This season he became only the sixth manager in Major League history to win a division title with three teams, joining Davey Johnson, Tony LaRussa, Billy Martin, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre.
Baker is only the second manager to lead different three National League teams to the playoffs. Baker is only the 25th manager in MLB history to record 1,400 career wins."