Just hours after talking about his upcoming meeting with the Chicago Cubs, former Giants manager Dusty Baker made more headlines Friday.

ESPN has discovered documents from a California court, detailing the former Giants manager's long history of IRS problems, with the largest lien totaling $2.3 million.

Baker responds

Dusty Baker spoke out about his tax problems Friday night, saying it's a non-issue. The former Giants manager told The Contra Costa Times that his tax problem was "about to be settled in the next month. That dispute has been going on for 12 years, from the early '80s. That's the bottom line. Why somebody would divulge this right now, that's low down." Baker's attorney, Karen Hawkins, said her client never hid anything from the Giants organization. "We gave the Giants full disclosure in 1999. It's his personal business and was not kept secretly from the Giants. Why all of a sudden someone thinks this is newsworthy enough information to leak to ESPN is enormously disappointing." The matter is supposed to be resolved within a few months. -- ESPN.com news services

The IRS and the California State Franchise Tax Board filed multiple liens over a 12-year period against Baker, claiming he owed several million dollars in back taxes, including penalties and interest.

Baker's tax attorney Karen Hawkins issued a statement Friday, saying the dispute comes from bad investments he made in the early '80s, and that he has been cooperating with the IRS for the past 10 years. Hawkins added that Baker is in the process of resolving the dispute.

Hawkins also said the Giants loaned Baker $1 million as part of his last contract, in case he needed to settle the dispute. Since Baker did not need those funds, he returned them to the team Friday.

According to Hawkins, Baker's wages from the Giants were garnished by the IRS for several years, but those garnishments ended 16 months ago.

Hawkins told the Associated Press on Friday night that Baker invested in four tax shelters on the advice of his brother.

The tax writeoffs he received from the shelters were disallowed in 1981 and 1982. The tax liabilities are under $400,000, but with interest over the years what he owes has reached more than $1 million, she said without giving an exact figure.

Hawkins said the situation with the IRS would be resolved by the end of this year.

"For the past 10 years he has cooperated with the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board to resolve the vast majority of these liabilities,'' she told the AP. "We are currently in the process of resolving the final two issues which we expect to complete before the end of the year.''

Hawkins stressed that when Baker negotiated with the Giants in 2000 he was honest about his tax issue.

"He and his tax adviser consider these matters to be old, stale news,'' she said. "Mr. Baker is not a non-filer nor has he ever neglected to report all his income. Any suggestions of that nature are inaccurate rumor.''

Baker's father, Johnnie, said Friday night his son's tax problems have not burdened the family, and he was surprised the story came out now because his son's problems occurred two decades ago. The father and son had a hunting trip planned for the weekend.

"He had some bad investments,'' Johnnie Baker said while attending a Sacramento Kings game. "The tax problem was there when he first went to the Giants. Everybody has problems sooner or later. That was not something new. It's not (anyone's) business, it's a personal thing.

"The whole family knew about it, and we're backing him 100 percent. He has handled it like a man.''

Giants GM Brian Sabean said those tax problems had nothing to do with the team not offering Baker a new deal, and that their talks were strictly job-related.

"All of our talks with (agent) Jeff Moorad about Dusty Baker's continuing with the Giants was strictly job description related,'' Sabean said.

The Cubs are set to interview Baker on Monday in San Francisco. Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said he was not aware of Baker's tax situation until Friday. It will not have a bearing on Baker's candidacy to become the team's manager, he said.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.