Chico Harlan notes that the Nats have sorted out most of their big issues for 2009: the Dominican Republic signing bonus scandal, Jim Bowden getting fired, Manny Acta getting fired, the draft, signing Strasburg, and making Mike Rizzo permanent. Now all they have left to do is to figure out if Jim Riggleman gets the “interim” tag taken off his title:
Under Riggleman, the Nats are 18-20. They’ve been streaky. They just wrapped up a disappointing 1-5 homestand. But just to put Washington’s improvement in perspective, the team didn’t win its 18th game under Acta until June 17 -- a night when the record improved to 18-46.
It’s a bit premature, I know. But I’ll ask anyway.
Chico “asks” whether Riggleman should be brought back in poll form. I’ll opine: nah. Nothing personal against Riggleman, but the improvement since he was hired is likely more evidence that this is not as terrible a Nats team as it appeared under Manny Acta than it is evidence that Jim Riggleman is a miracle worker. Yes, near-.500 ball is impressive from this group, but can anyone (paging NBC Washington’s Chris Needham!) point out what Riggleman has done that is so special? Special enough to overlook his historically ho-hum presence on the multiple teams he has managed? More special than the roster cleaning and restructuring that Rizzo has done to fix what was a horribly-constructed team at the start of the season?
Above all of that is the sense that the Nats really and truly (a) need to make sure they have a manager in place that has a track record of working well with and developing young talent, especially pitching talent; and (b) need to inject some sort of excitement into this team that will motivate people to actually, you know, buy tickets to watch these guys as they get better.
That’s a tough combo. Usually the big colorful Billy Martin-type managers are guys who don’t do too well with kids because, hey, they don’t have to. But it’s worth seeking out, and for that reason I think the Nats should offer Riggleman a hearty thank you, a nice coaching job, and look onward into the future with another man at the helm.
