Dave

Martinez

The Nationals currently sit in the cellar of the National League East with an uninspiring 37-53 record. Since winning the World Series in 2019, Martinez’s Nationals hadn’t done better than 71-91 in a full season. Martinez finishes his Nationals stint 500-622. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo is expected to take over as the acting general manager on an interim basis. No word yet on who will replace Martinez in the dugout. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Nationals partially made this move because they did not want to pick up an option year on Martinez’s contract for 2026 and were concerned about having a lame duck manager. Stay tuned.

With the Nationals down 2-0 in the seventh, Lopez hit Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds with a pitch and then threw a fastball over Andrew McCutchen’s head three pitches later. Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton complained, and both teams cleared the dugout and yelled at each other a little bit. No warnings were issued by the umpires, and Martinez was not ejected from the game, so the suspension is a bit of a surprise here. López will be available to return from his suspension on April 20 against the Rockies.

He’ll take the place of Tim Bogar, whose contract was not renewed after the 2023 season. Cairo had been working in the Mets’ organization as their minor league infield coordinator. He previously served as the White Sox’ bench coach under Tony La Russa in 2021 and 2022 — and finished the 2022 campaign as the team’s acting manager.

While manager Dave Martinez and pitching coach Jim Hickey will return, the Nationals are not renewing the contracts of bench coach Tim Bogar, third base coach Gary Disarcina, assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler and first base coach Eric Young Jr. Look for Martinez and company to round out a new coaching staff over the next few months.

Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports adds that it’s a two-year contract extension with a club option for 2026. The Nationals are also reportedly working on a contract extension with general manager Mike Rizzo, according to Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic. Martinez was at the helm during Washington’s World Series title run back in 2019 and has presided over a club that’s vastly outperformed expectations this season during a rebuilding period. The 58-year-old skipper’s contract was set to expire at the conclusion of the 2023 campaign.

Rosenthal and Ghiroli add that the club is also close to reaching a contract agreement with general manager Mike Rizzo. Both Martinez and Rizzo, who were at the helm for Washington’s World Series title back in 2019, were both in the final year of their respective contracts. The Nationals are extremely unlikely to make the postseason, but they’ve outperformed expectations this season as their extended rebuilding effort continues.

Martinez, who helped guide the Nationals to a World Series title back in 2019, will return for a sixth season at the helm in Washington. He’s gone 295-310 (.472) with one postseason appearance since 2018.

Henry Blanco served in that role in 2021 but will shift into a newly created position of catching and strategy coach. There will be eight members of manager Dave Martinez’s coaching staff next season, instead of the previous seven. Bones had been part of the Mets’ staff under former skipper Luis Rojas.

DiSarcina has been the Mets’ third base coach for the past three seasons, but now he’ll head to the team’s NL East rival. The Nationals recently informed Bob Henley that he would not be returning as third base coach.

Young was on the coaching staff with the Triple-A affiliate of the Mariners (Tacoma) in 2021. The 36-year-old former outfielder last played in a major league game in September 2018 with the Angels.