Watch as the Nats start laying this year’s disaster at Davey Johnson’s feet

A call for Davey Johnson’s head, some Heyman speculation that Matt Williams could be his replacement and now Amanda Comak of the Washington Times goes full-blown with the successor speculation:

Through discussions with industry and team sources, four possible names emerged as possibilities for when the Nationals begin their managerial search in earnest: Arizona Diamondbacks third base coach Matt Williams, Nationals bench coach Randy Knorr, Nationals third base coach Trent Jewett and Houston Astros manager Bo Porter.

Porter is the odd name there. Though he just came from Washington, it seems like a long shot in the extreme that the Astros would let him go after anointing him the steward of their rebuild so recently. Indeed, just this past March his general manager said this about him:

“People know Bo is going to be here for a long time,” Luhnow says. “He could be one of those guys who is an Astros manager for decades, not just years. The players knowing that this is the group that’s going to be here — it begins to lay the foundation for stability, which is really what we’re looking for.”

Not that they wouldn’t give him up for, I dunno, Bryce Harper or something. OK, maybe not anything that grand, but it would take Porter telling the Astros he really, really wanted the Nats job followed by the Nats giving up an awful lot to the Astros to let him out of his contract. And that really doesn’t make sense for anyone here. Teams shouldn’t be giving up real talent for a manager. Neither Porter nor the Astros would do well by being seen as abandoning a plan this quickly. Indeed, one of the biggest selling points to long-frustrated Astros fans right now is “hey, we may not have the talent yet, but boy howdy to we have a plan!” That’s actually appealing to people and Houston doesn’t want to mess with that.

But the biggest takeaway from all of this: I have this strong feeling that the next two months of the season will be filled with Nationals sources talking about new managers and a change in direction and philosophy, the likes of which there is plenty in Comak’s story. The reason: by doing so, team sources basically lay this season’s disaster at Johnson’s feet, absolving everyone who is still around for next year.

Not surprising. And not necessarily bogus. I mean, Johnson is a great manager, but he has messed up a good deal this season and isn’t blameless in what has gone on. I don’t think he can be blamed as much as the front office, but it’s not like he’s been an innocent bystander. Still, laying the blame on Davey Johnson has happened many times in the past. The Mets, Reds, Dodgers and Orioles all felt a strong need to “change direction” following Johnson’s tenure, all either tacitly or plainly blaming Davey for what went wrong in the end.

Funny thing, though: teams have a habit of cratering even worse after Johnson leaves. And when that happens, everyone stops playing the blame-Davey game.