Subscribe
Follow Us
The Washington Nationals fired manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo on Sunday. They were swept by the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, marking the end of an era in D.C. Washington has the number one pick in the MLB Draft, which is on July 14, and should be sellers at the July 31 trade deadline. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal called out the timing of the Nationals' firing in a recent column.
“Indifferent. Apathetic. Disconnected. All of those words seemed to apply in recent seasons to the Washington Nationals ownership group, headed by Mark Lerner. Well, wonder of wonders, ownership just snapped out of it, at just about the oddest time imaginable — one week before the Nats will make the No. 1 pick in baseball’s amateur draft and less than a month before the trade deadline,” Rosenthal wrote.
Rizzo agrees with him on the Nationals' ownership, taking a dig in a text to Washington Post reporter Barry Svrluga. “The sun will come up tomorrow. That’s the job. I had a great run. Navigated that ownership group for almost 20 years.”
Rosenthal continues, “Not that Rizzo, the game’s second-longest tenured head of baseball operations, and Martinez, the manager who led the franchise to its only World Series title in 2019, necessarily deserved to keep their jobs. The Nationals’ 37-53 record is the fourth worst in the majors. More telling, the Nats since 2019 rank second in the majors in losses, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies.”
He goes on to say that ownership needed to decide on their 2026 options this month, but firing a GM before the deadline is nearly unheard of. This group put it all together in 2019, leading the Nationals to their only title. But with another season spiraling down the tubes, they are moving on.
The Nationals pick first overall in the MLB Draft on July 14. Mike DeBartolo is the interim GM, but the interim manager has yet to be announced.
