Giants Keep Baker

While the Dodgers are moving to complete their managerial search, Dusty Baker took himself off the market.

Baker, who will probably be named manager of the year for the third time, reached an agreement with the San Francisco Giants on a two-year extension Thursday.

Meanwhile, Dodger President Bob Graziano and General Manager Kevin Malone plan to interview New York Yankee coaches Willie Randolph and Chris Chambliss during the World Series, which begins Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Graziano and Malone, handling the search for Davey Johnson’s successor, are expected to conduct the interviews Monday, a World Series day off.

Although the Dodgers aren’t commenting, the members of Yankee Manager Joe Torre’s staff are believed to be the only remaining candidates to be interviewed.

Graziano and Malone, who also led the ’98 search, hope to soon make recommendations to Chairman Bob Daly, who will select the Dodgers’ fourth manager since the middle of the 1996 season.

It appears the Dodgers plan to hire a coach with no previous major league managerial experience to replace Johnson, formerly baseball’s winningest active manager.

Daly, Graziano and Malone are believed to have interviewed only coaches for the job.

From Johnson’s staff, they have met with Rick Down, Glenn Hoffman, Jim Tracy, Manny Mota and Rick Dempsey. Tracy interviewed Thursday for the Pittsburgh Pirate managerial position.

Eddie Murray, the Baltimore Orioles’ first base coach, and Arizona Diamondback bench coach Carlos Tosca are the Dodgers’ other known candidates.

Baker had expressed doubt about his future with the Giants, but according to the San Francisco Examiner, the team had offered Baker a three-year contract worth more than $2 million a year. Torre is baseball’s highest-paid manager at $3 million a season.

“The San Francisco Giants organization has established a winning formula over recent years, and Dusty Baker obviously has played a major role in our success,” General Manager Brian Sabean said in a statement. “We always felt that Dusty would remain a Giant, and over the course of the past year, he had assured our ownership as well as myself, that he wanted to be our manager beyond this season.”

The Giants won the NL West this season and had baseball’s best record at 97-65. They were knocked out in four games in the division series by the wild-card Mets.

Baker has compiled a 655-577 record in eight seasons with the Giants. His tenure is the fourth longest in the major leagues behind Tom Kelly of Minnesota (entering his 15th season), Atlanta’s Bobby Cox (12) and Montreal’s Felipe Alou (10).

*

Dave Hansen, whose seven pinch-hit homers established a single-season major league record, was rewarded with a $150,000 raise, sources said.

Hansen, who made $475,000 in 2000, will make $625,000 next season. The Dodgers could have exercised a $550,000 club option, but instead reworked Hansen’s contract because of his contributions.

The club holds a $675,000 option for 2002, or a $25,000 buyout.

*

The Associated Press contributed to this story.