Reports: Dusty Baker back with Giants as a special assistant

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dusty Baker is returning to the San Francisco Giants for a third stint with the team, this time as a special assistant in the front office, according to multiple reports.

An announcement is expected this week.

Baker is still beloved in the Bay Area, and this could be his final baseball stop in what almost certainly will be a Hall of Fame career.

Back with the Giants, he will serve as a special assistant to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and CEO Larry Baer. Baker managed the Giants from 1993 to 2002 before coming back to work as an adviser to Baer during a break from managing in 2018 and 2019.

The 74-year-old Baker retired from the Houston Astros following the 2023 season -- his 26th year as a major league manager. He said then he still had more to offer a team and that he hoped to take on an advisory role.

Baker finally won a long-awaited World Series title as a manager with Houston in 2022. He owns a 2,183-1,862 career managerial record with the Giants, Cubs, Reds, Nationals and Astros.

He left the Giants on difficult terms following their World Series loss to the Angels in 2002 and took over as skipper of the Cubs.

Still, this new job seems to be a natural fit. Baker repaired his relationships in San Francisco over time -- the Giants offered him flexibility to watch son Darren's college games at the University of California, Berkeley -- and he still owns a home in Granite Bay outside Sacramento, where he tends to his garden and grows grapes for his own wine.

USA Today first reported the reunion on Monday.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.