After the Nats won 11 of 12 games, Jim Riggleman just up and quit. He said he wanted to have a conversation about the club picking up his option for next year. General Manager Mike Rizzo said that Riggleman demanded his option be picked up within 24 hours.
The two needed to communicate better. Riggleman is not the manager of the future. They should've been up front with him about how long they were planning on keeping him. Riggleman could argue that the team improved by 10 wins last year and were over .500 after winning 11 of 12 this season. But Rizzo could argue that the team still only won 69 wins last year and Riggleman has never had a winning track record as a manager.
My take is that the organization should've told Riggleman that they wanted him for the rest of the season and made the decision to pick up his option at the end fo the season. Riggleman should not have given an ultimatum. Winning 11 out of 12 games is nice, but it doesn't override 10 years of losing.
The entire episode is embarrassing for Nats fans. The team is winning, and has good pieces in place. Riggleman could have help the players continue to develop. Davey Johnson is not the answer for the future either, but hopefully he can keep the team going in the right direction until... Ivan Rodriguez takes over!
No comments:
Post a Comment