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Monday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 3-1 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Won, 2-0 OFF DAY N/A
Wilmington Won, 3-1 OFF DAY N/A
Fredericksburg Lost, 9-2 OFF DAY N/A
FCL Nationals OFF DAY OFF DAY
DSL Nationals OFF DAY vs. DSL Blue Jays Red, 11am

Rochester 3 Buffalo 1
• Conley (W, 1-0) 5IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 6K, HR
• Grissom (SV, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, 2-0 IR-S
• Hassell 2-4, R, HR, RBI
• Arruda 2-4, 2RBI

Robert Hassell’s solo HR put Rochester on top at 2-1 and the pitchers held the line to take the series finale, 3-1. Bryce Conley won his first AAA game since 2023 with five innings of one-run ball on three hits (one HR) and a walk while striking out six. Marquis Grissom Jr. struck out four of the five batters he faced, stranding two runners in the 8th and earning his second save at AAA. Hassell also singled whike J.T. Arruda bookended the scoring with a pair of RBI singles in the 2nd and 6th innings. Roster moves: LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara recalled to Washington; RHP Ryan Loutos optioned from Washington.

Harrisburg 2 Altoona 0
• Huff 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• M. Gomez (W, 1-1) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Santos (SV, 5) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Wallace 1-3, R
• Naranjo 1-3, RBI

The Senators bullpen combined to shut out the Curve, 2-0 on three hits in the series finale. Chance Huff went the first three as the opener while Miguel Gomez won in his AA debut with two scoreless. Junior Santos worked a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his fifth save. Cayden Wallace singled and scored a run while Joe Naranjo singled him in. Seaver King and Johnathon Thomas also had safeties to round out the Harrisburg hit tally of four. Roster moves: RHP Miguel Gomez promoted from Wilmington.

Wilmington 3 Jersey Shore 1
• Tolman 4IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 4K
• Cáceres 2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 3K
• Amaral (SV, 3) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Lomavita 3-4, 2B, 2RBI
• Cruz 2-3, BB, 2B(5)
• Lawson 2-4, R, 2B, RBI

Wilmington took a 3-0 lead after three and held on to win 3-1 and split the series against Jersey Shore. Erik Tolman stretched to four scoreless innings with two hits, one walk, and four whiffs. Bryan Cáceres gave up the BlueClaws runs on two hits and a walk over two innings but was credited with the “W” as the pitcher of record. Chad Lomavita kept the balls in front of him and sent three past the fielders, including a double, and drove in two while Cortland Lawson singled and hit an RBI double to lead the Blue Rocks offense.



Delmarva 9 Fredericksburg 2
• B. Romero (L, 1-2) 4IP, 8H, 6R, 6ER, 5BB, 0K
• Beeker 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Peoples 0-3, R, BB, 2K, E(5)
• Vaquero 1-4, OF assist @ HP

The Shorebirds got four in the 1st and two in the 2nd and cruised to a 9-2 win over the FredNats in the series finale. Brayan Romero gave up those six run on eight hits and five walks over four innings to take his second loss. Fredericksburg’s offense was limited to five singles and two walks and struck out ten times.

FCL Nationals, 24-18, 2nd place FCL East, 3GB
The FCL Nationals split their four games last week but lost a game and a half in the standings. With less than three weeks to go, the F-Nats elimination number is 15. This week it’s five games in five days with two against the first-place F-Astros tomorrow and Thursday; two against the F-Marlins on Wednesday and Saturday, and a Friday trip to Port St. Lucie to visit the F-Mets.

DSL Nationals, 13-12, T4th place, DSL South, 6GB
The D-Nats took three of five games and moved into a tie for 4th place. The run differential is now +1. This week, it’s home games today, Friday, and Saturday road games tomorrow night(!) and Thursday morning.

# # #

RIZZO, MARTINEZ FINALLY FIRED

The only argument is how long this overdue. I’ll take the easy one first.

Dave Martinez should have been canned no later than the 2021 season. Yes, the Nats won the 2019 World Series. But it was despite him not because of him. Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg were far, far more responsible, just like Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson papered over the numerous mistakes Bob Brenly made in 2001.

Frankly, Martinez should have been fired the same day he said “It’s never on coaching.” There was no way anyone (player or otherwise) was going to respect him after that. It let slip the entitlement he felt as “a baseball man.”

Mike Rizzo is obviously more complicated. He had been a member of the Nats front office for all but one year of its time in D.C. He had to clean up after the “Smiley” Gonzalez fiasco and did it fairly quickly. Even if you want to credit Johnny DiPuglia for it, Rizzo deserves praise for dinginf the right man to help.

But Rizzo also had the fortune of being able to draft two generational talents back-to-back and built the team into a winner that went a long way toward his signature free-agent signing of Scherzer, which was also set up by signing Jayson Werth five years earlier

However, as this site has overlapped all but one year of Rizzo’s tenure, his strength in player development was finding gems on other teams not generating his own. Not to mention—well, YES to mention—the organization’s inability to keep its young pitchers healthy and its odd corresponding fetish for signing guys that were hurt in the hopes of getting them healthy and getting production on the cheap. It never worked out.

Predictably, Rizzo alluded to the longstanding complaint of Nats ownership on his way out the door: “That’s the job. I had a great run. Navigated that ownership group for almost 20 years.”

While not as blatant as Martinez, the implication that he would have been more successful with a bigger budget papers over the era in which the Nats DID spend money. Unfortunately, just as it was Martinez’s job was to win with the players he had, Rizzo’s job was to work with the budget he had. Being able to spend carte blanche doesn’t guarantee success – just ask any Mets fan!

30 Commments

  1. Martinez, thanks for the memories. He led us to a World Series title, and for that he’ll go down in Nats history. But he was also a manager that presided over teams which repeatedly underperformed its talent level (including this year’s). And as soon as he earned the right to choose his coaching staff, and not be saddled with “deadweights” like Kevin Long, the wheels really fell off. It was telling that he finally found some energy this season to muster spirited defenses, but it was to defend his buddies while throwing the guys he’s actually hired to manage/inspire/improve under the bus, while bitterly refusing any form of accountability for his failures. And then most shamefully, in his chance to explain himself or apologize, he just downright lied and denied saying things he said (while we’re at it, shame on the press for not calling him out on this!). That that incident happened almost a month ago with no repercussions (until now, forced by ownership) speaks to the lack of accountability in the organization.

    Rizzo, I hold a lot more admiration for. However, like Martinez, he was loyal to a fault. This extended to Martinez (I honestly think if he’d fired Martinez after his player comments, he might have found a longer leash, but it was clear that behind the scenes he would’ve been strongly and inexplicably defending Davey, which was as much a castigation of the players as it was Rizzo, who gave him those players). But this also extended to countless other leadership positions, like keeping his long time buddy, Kris Kline, in the head of scouting position for over a decade of futility, or Johnny DiPuglia as head of international scouting. While I’m sure Rizzo prided himself on stability, that stability eventually turned into complacency, and the team that made itself by doing things right and being better than other teams, got stale and averse to new ideas. We were a decade late to the analytics revolution, neglected our Domincan operations, and were embarrassingly late to realizing the potential of East Asian baseball. Unfortunately, the damage being done through complacency meant that it was already too late once the problem began to show itself at the major league level. Rizzo needed a flawless run of moves since 2021 to arrest the decline, and unfortunately the Scherzer/Turner trade debacle, frequent draft misses and a continued inability to build a bullpen sealed his fate. Rizzo got 5 years to rebuild, and it came up short.

    He was legitimately a very good GM in early 2010s, and I’m grateful for what he did for the club, and he will go down as a team legend. But you can’t stake the future of a team on sentimentality and memories. This team needs new leadership and ideas (including from ownership!!!).

    For one, it’s going to be an interesting next 3 weeks with the draft and trade deadline coming up in rapid succession!

    Let’s hope the Lerners get their next move right. I’m not optimistic.

    1. Also, just to be clear. Mark Lerner and his siblings bear more responsibility than both Martinez and Rizzo in this mess (though they’re ALL to blame), but unfortunately we can’t fire the owners too.

      1. Like an over due divorce
        I must say Rizzo was blessed by acquiring Howie Kendrick for an A ball lefty .

      2. Will you nailed it
        The next generation of ownership in many sports
        Ownerships tends to not get the jist of sports successful operation habits

  2. tough day when you see solid and dedicated men relieved of the job that most likely defined their lives. while I can’t dispute that it had to happen I will never forget those magical months, weeks and days of 2019 and thank them both for their roles in making it happen. I’ve always been a supporter of Rizzo and was made a believer of DM.

    having followed this site and the minor league scene through the years, what has been left for their successors is light years ahead of what was inherited. for that too I thank them.

      1. we have to take the number one pitcher in the draft, enough with high school kids that will be in the minors for 4-5 years

  3. Of all the managers in the glory years, Martinez was the weakest. I couldn’t believe that they kept him around so long. They fired Johnson and Williams after missing the playoffs once, and Dusty after two trips to the playoffs. The Nats won the World Series thanks to an amazingly strong coaching staff of Kevin Long, Paul Menhart, Chip Hale, and Tim Bogar. All of those guys were gone within a couple of years.

    Will said it well about Rizzo and his posse: “got stale and averse to new ideas.” Luke is also right that his real strength was the talent he acquired from other teams, not the talent he drafted and developed. Also, it wasn’t two generational talents who fell in his lap, it was three — don’t forget Rendon. When Tony Two Bags was truly engaged, like the 2019 postseason, few were better.

    Rizzo’s greatest accomplishment was convincing Ted Lerner to spend. He just couldn’t do the same with Mark. Stan Kasten later said that one of the primary reasons he left for the Dodgers was because he couldn’t get Ted to spend anything. He was amazed that Rizzo had managed to crack that nut.

    A new chapter begins . . . right before the draft with a 1/1 pick.

  4. I think Matt Williams was pretty clearly a worse manager than Davey 2.0, though I agree Davey (inexplicably) got a much longer leash.

    For me, there are two questions about the forthcoming GM search: (1) do we think the current ownership group is capable of identifying a GM who’s better than Rizzo? (2) If the current ownership group can identify such a person, will they pay him/her enough to take the job? I am skeptical on both fronts.

    I fear, like Barry S suggests in the Post this morning, that the Lerners will just promote from the inside rather than conduct the necessary overhaul.

    Ultimately, I don’t really care about Davey—he had to go (and should have gone long ago). I think firing Rizzo will turn out poorly—not because there aren’t better GMs (there are!), but because I don’t think Mark Lerner will hire someone better.

    1. It’s a very good point. “The devil you know….”

      You usually don’t want the source of the problem (the Lerners) being vested with resolving the problem (a poorly run organization) they have created, when there is a relatively easy fix at their disposal (spend more money, smartly).

      Maybe this is what you meant, but I’m not worried about the Lerners not paying the GM enough. Dozens of assistant GMs would jump at the chance to call the shots. I am concerned that the Lerners will not give them the appropriate budget to make the internal changes needed (building out more than the bare bones data team we have, expanding our DR footprint, expanding scouting and networks in Japan/South Korea, expanding the minor leagues coaching staff, etc.) but hopefully a lot of this could be offset by staff turnover. Rizzo has maintained a small army of special assistants to the GM, who would likely leave with him. And that doesn’t even get to the real elephant in the room: we are a top 10 market but maintaining like a bottom 10 market. To crack the top 10 payrolls would mean almost doubling our current payroll, and just to get to average would entail adding $50m to it. That’s where my pessimism about the future lies. That solution has always been there, and it’s not been taken.

      1. Yeah–what I meant by “pay” includes all the terms related to a GM offer, which includes salary, budget, autonomy, etc. I think the industry views Washington as a “shitty” GM job because of all of those terms. It’s true that an up-and-coming GM type might take poor terms just to get one of the 30 top jobs. I think we’re far more likely to end up with a GM retread who’s willing to take those poor terms to get “back in the game.” I think the Lerners are mostly likely going to choose between promoting from within and a dinosaur GM who was fired five-ten years ago (i.e., Rizzo-like but worse).

        1. Please no “ Leather pants “ 2.0 lol.
          Nats need like a re – incarnated Jack McKeon .
          Right ?

    2. In my travels I asked a college student attending
      SDSU if they have honored SS with a likeness like Tony Gwynn.
      He didn’t know probably cause he’s too busy surfing and scre—-

  5. Wow.

    Hard disagree with the takes on Davey. He was literally given nothing to work with. What manager does better with the roster pushed on Davey?

    Is it Davey’s fault that he went into this season with Lucas Sims, Colin Poche, Jorge Lopez, Eduardo Salazar and Orlando Ribalta in the pen? That world class pathetic; literally impossible to keep your team in the game with that group. The only MLB level reliever on the team was Kyle Finnegan, and he returned to Washington after no MLB team wanted to trade for him last year or sign him in the offseason.

    Then when that group was so bad that Rizzo had to DFA the first three (note that none have thrown a pitch for any MLB team since), the Nats add Jackson Rutledge, Zach Brzykcy and Ryan Loutos. Hilariously awful.

    Name a manager that would make chicken salad out of that group.

    This is how bad the pitching depth in this organization is: Going into yesterday, the Nats had started six pitchers on the season (fewest in MLB), when they needed a 7th starter, the Nats bring up Ogasawara, who was god-awful in AAA, and of course, the Nats give up 4 runs in the first five batters. If the Nats have to continue using Ogasawara things will only get uglier, but there is literally no one in the organization that can step in. That is on Davey?

    Is it Davey’s fault that the Nats are inexplicably committed to the worst offensive and defensive catcher in the game?

    Jose Tena has the most starts at 3B of any Nat this season. Jose Tena and his 154 plate appearance with with zero home-runs. Corner infield power right there.

    Josh Bell was given to Davey as his DH. Josh Bell has been a negative WAR player for awhile.

    Dylan Crews is massively overrated. Yet, Davey had use Crews and his .620 OPS in right field every day. This is how bad Crews was; Daylin Lile, who is not MLB ready, has outperformed Crews. Is it Davey’s fault that Rizzo drafted Crews with the #2 pick and the hype essentially forced Crews to play at the MLB level?

    Mitchell Parker and Jake Irvin were never highly regarded prospects; yet they have been rotation mainstays for the last two years. Oh, and for a veteran rotation piece, the Nats re-signed Trevor Williams for two years.

    So, that’s an all-time worst bullpen. A rotation with one legit MLB starter, and then a bunch of at best, #5 starters. A lineup with the MLB’s worst catching sitation. The worst defensive 2nd baseman. AAA player at 3rd base, and forced to play outfielders that at best aren’t ready to contribute at the MLB level.

    With that said, many people thought that the 2025 roster was the Nats’ best since 2020. So, Davey should have won more games with that group? Really? Looking forward to see how the Nats play the rest of the way now that Davey isn’t holding this talented team back.

    The Nats current sucky situation is about 60% (maybe more) on the Lerners for running the team on the cheap at every level from the lack of infrastructure to the complete unwillingness to pay for roster construction. Trevor Williams is the third highest paid player on the roster let that sink in. The A’s invested more in building its 2025 roster than the Nats.

    40% on Rizzo. His trades have been great, but his drafting, player development and recent free agent signings have been abysmal for awhile. As mentioned above, “stocking” the 2025 bullpen with Sims, Poche and Lopez, builing a lineup relying on Josh Bell, Keibert Ruiz, Paul DeJong and re-signing Trevor Williams was a sign that Rizzo had simply checked out.

    Rizzo’s 2025 off-season was incredibly bad even with the lack of resources available. Stunning to me that anyone can look at this roster (or last year’s roster or the roster the year before) and think this team under-performed the talent. This teams roster is among the worst in the game, and that’s where the Nats are. Keep thinking that a “better manager” can win with this group.

    1. All of that may be true, but throwing the players under the bus is indefensible.

      1. OK.

        Agree that Davey’s days were numbered as soon as he said that “it’s always on the players”.. (felt that statement was directed more for the poor roster construction than attacking the players for their own failures, but either way that was a bad moment).

        That said, seems crazy advocating for firing Davey in 2021 (first full season after winning the WS), when Davey was left with the Alcides Escobar, Yadiel Hernandez, Carter Kieboom, Patrick Corbin, Paolo Espino, Sam Clay roster. That team had so many warts.

      2. Luke throwing the players under the bus was the last straw to the Lerners
        It’s almost like the broadway actor on stage who does an ad lib soliloquy about the cock a mammy production then walks out stage right

    2. Davey was also given the world in 2018 and 2020, and led those teams to disastrously poor results. He hasn’t only been the manager under our poverty regime.

  6. I’ve never been a Davey fan so I’m not sad to see him go. As for Rizzo, I think he was just there too long and got stale. They both lived on that world series win which was great at the time but they just couldn’t move the team forward.
    Davey always seemed like he wanted to be everyone’s friend. That just doesn’t work when you’re in a management position. As much as he liked to look at the positive, sometimes you need to point out the negative to see improvement.
    It’s all in the Lerner’s hands now and I guess we’ll see what their plan is to move this team forward. Hoping it involves spending some money in the off season! Good Luck to the next manager! He’s got a tough 3 months ahead of him.

  7. I’m not a Rizzo hater and give him tremendous credit for the success of the 2010s. It’s also fact that Mark Lerner has committed malpractice by trying to run the team like a discount warehouse. But there’s also no way around Rizzo’s decade-plus of failure with drafting and development, which have been discussed here for years. By 2020-21, those chickens really started to come home to roost, and things have cascaded from there as the money got unnecessarily tighter.

  8. BTW, not arguing that Davey should have stayed.

    The next GM should choose the Nats’ next manager. Would be crazy to require a new GM to keep an incumbent manager.

    Just that for those the follow this organization so closely, we all know that there is an overall lack of talent at all levels; drafting and international signing have been poor (to be kind), the organization has been unable to develop the talent on hand; the ownership won’t spend on free agents: this is a bottom-tier franchise. Without better talent, the manager isn’t going to make a difference.

  9. back to the kids.

    Grissom Jr. was never one I put a lot of hope in but if he can find a couple ticks on his FB… his change-up is money

    Powell went from a month walking almost nobody to a month walking almost everybody. there’s ability and there’s having the ability to do it consistently

    to the City Isle folks, any chatter at the park yesterday regarding Sykora’s early exit?

    2. For those who missed my post yesterday, Sykora had some type of injury as the umpire gave Saenz time to warm up. Yesterday, Sykora had a slight limp as he walked in from bullpen with the other pitchers.

      1. I’m extremely relieved to hear he had a “limp”. UCL injuries don’t affect your stride.

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