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The Washington Nationals are 37-54 ahead of their game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. Despite standout performances from James Wood and CJ Abrams, Washington remains at the bottom of the National League East. Things reached a boiling point over the weekend. The Nationals fired manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo on the same day.
Rizzo's firing came as more of a surprise than Martinez's. The latter worked with the general manager to guide Washington to a World Series title in 2019. However, they have not been competitive since. After spending five and a half seasons near the bottom of the league standings, the Nationals had enough.
Rizzo, on the other hand, figured to have more security. He helped identify and develop players like Wood and Abrams into the young stars they are today. According to him, though, Major League Baseball is more about your recent performance than your overall resume.
“This is a performance based industry and when you don’t perform up to the standards that ownership has set then it’s their option to make changes,” Rizzo said. “And they did. A smart baseball person once said you know, ‘Baseball is a beautiful game, but it’s kind of a s****y business sometimes.’”
After 16 years at the helm, the long-time general manager's time is up ahead of the 2025 trade deadline. While he is upset that his time in Washington is over, he reflected fondly on the relationships he made while there.
“So that’s how I feel and I’ve have had a lot of cool emotional interactions with current players, especially ex players, and ex- staff members, and people that I would not have expected to really have that kind of outpouring emotional response to what we did here in Washington,” Rizzo said.
Looking ahead, the Nationals will have a new interim manager, Miguel Cairo, and general manager for the second half of the season. Whether or not they will be able to accomplish what Rizzo and Martinez could not remains to be seen. However, their fate is in the hands of players like Wood and Abrams. Needless to say, Washington's future is up in the air.
