In Chicago, Baker has no reason to be paranoid.

Byline: Tim Kawakami

SAN JOSE _ Oh my, the Peter Magowan Crowd would have you believe that the Chicago Cubs are in for it now.

They not only hired Dusty Baker, those lovable Cubbies, but they paid him great gushers of cash _ about $14 million over four years, reportedly, enough to have the Magowan Martinets guffawing.

You can imagine the Magowan Table regulars clapping each other on the back and bellowing that the only winners in this deal will be the Internal Revenue Service back-tax collectors! Oops, hope nobody at ESPN heard that! Hee-hee!

But we know better than that, we absolutely do.

We know precisely how valuable a man and manager the Cubs have added, at least those of us who paid attention to the entire Dusty Decade in San Francisco, from the unthinkable 1993 pennant chase to the Matt Williams injury skid to six seasons finishing either first or second from 1997 through this October.

Ask yourself this, if you are wavering on Baker's impact: Was there ever a season, a month or even a week that his Giants team quit on him _ or him on them? No, there was not. Not when Barry Bonds was hurt or Livan Hernandez was throwing 78 mph fastballs. Not when Robb Nen was blowing leads or Marvin Benard was dropping flyballs.