WashingtonEven though the Washington Nationals are more than halfway through their sixth straight losing season since winning the championship, the team’s decision to replace manager and general manager Mike Rizzo on Sunday was unexpected given the timing of the move.
Hours after Washington’s 6-4 home defeat, the team made the announcement. The Colorado Rockies are the only other National League team with a worse record than the Nationals, who are 37-53 and last in the NL East.
Suggested Videos
However, the amateur draft is only a week away.
Rizzo will be replaced temporarily by deputy general manager and senior vice president Mike DeBartolo. Martinez’s replacement wasn’t announced right away.
Both Martinez and Rizzo had options to have their contracts extended past this season, which Washington might have done.
“The on-field performance has not been where we or our fans expect it to be,” Nationals owner Mark Lerner said in a statement released by the organization, “although we are appreciative of their past successes.” Our club is at a turning point, and we think that the greatest way to move forward as a team is with new ideas and enthusiasm.
After over ten and a half years, Rizzo’s tenure as the Nationals’ manager is coming to an end. Rizzo, who had been general manager since 2009 and was promoted to president of baseball operations in 2013, was one of the first people hired by the Lerner family when it took over the company.
According to Lerner, he was crucial in spearheading the changeover of our farm system and creating a roster that achieved an unparalleled degree of organizational success. We are really grateful to Mike for his hard work and dedication, which helped shape who we are as a company.
Following, Martinez is the fourth manager to be fired since the season began.
Martinez has a 500–622 overall record with the Nationals. When a reporter questioned him last month about how to divide the blame for subpar play between his staff and players, he became irate.
Martinez then stated, “It’s never on coaching.” Never when coaching. Coaches put quite a lot of effort every day. Here, we won’t point the fault at the coaches. The coaches are never affected. They put in a lot of effort at work. It’s an obvious message. Every task is completed beforehand. They must therefore occasionally go outside and play the game. The players have always been the focus. Always.
Before the 2018 season, Martinez has never managed at any level before taking Dusty Baker’s place. There were calls for Martinez to be dismissed when the Nationals finished 82-80 in his debut season and struggled the following year.
However, Rizzo remained with Martinez, and the Nationals won their first championship under the leadership of starting pitchers Max Scherzer, rookie outfielder Juan Soto, young shortstop Trea Turner, Howie Kendrick, and Stephen Strasburg, who was named the World Series MVP.
The team no longer has any players from the World Series roster.
Following a setback during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Rizzo started to dismantle the roster by sending Scherzer, Soto, Turner, and other players elsewhere.
Although the team has some promising building blocks, such as starter MacKenzie Gore and outfielder James Wood, who were both named on Sunday along with shortstop CJ Abrams, who was an All-Star the previous season, the rebuilding process has continued with little tangible improvement in the standings to show for it.
“We see these changes as a difficult but necessary move in a positive direction,” Lerner said, adding that Nationals supporters had something to be hopeful about. Our family is still dedicated to winning, just as it has been since my late father took over the team nearly 20 years ago.”
From 2020 to 2024, Washington consistently placed fourth or fifth in the NL East, never managing to put together a winning percentage higher than the.438 (71–91) of the previous two seasons.
Davey’s love for his players and his enthusiasm for baseball have always been admirable to me,” Lerner remarked. “Davey stands out for his ability to relate to our community, players, staff, and fans. Although this chapter is over, we are aware that it doesn’t mean the end of what should be a lengthy and prosperous baseball career.
___
AP MLB:
