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Dusty Baker joins Nationals — “in the middle of a re-creation now’

Will Dusty Baker be a different manager in what he called his fourth and final managing gig?

“The great Bill Walsh, one of my mentors, told me every once in a while you have to re-create yourself as a man and a person,” Baker said, “so I like to think I’m in the middle of a re-creation now.”

Baker was introduced Thursday as the Nationals’ manager and appeared at a news conference with general manager Mike Rizzo, who raved not only about Baker’s handling of players but his in-game management.

“He’s often described as an old-school dinosaur type of manager and yet was 13th in (defensive) shifting in Major League Baseball in his last year as manager,” Rizzo said.