There are two critical jobs in any baseball organization. One picks the players who get to be on the team -- the general manager. The other decides the batting order and who gets to pitch that day -- the manager.This is the Nationals' fifth season in Washington. Today, they do not have a permanent general manager or a permanent manager.
Months after Jim Bowden's firing, Mike Rizzo is still the "interim" GM. And one day after Manny Acta's firing, Jim Riggleman is now the "interim" manager.
How incompetent is the leadership of the Nationals? They could not successfully execute the act of firing the manager. Even though Acta was sacked Sunday night, the club stayed silent publicly, leaving it to Acta to announce his own firing. Rizzo didn't confirm the firing until Monday morning, and only then in response to a reporter's inquiry.
As a partial season ticket holder, I received an email from the Nationals today explaining the reasons for Acta's firing. Want to know how little accountability there is in the Nationals front office? Here's how the email was signed:
Sincerely,The buck stops ... where?
Washington Nationals Baseball Club
Say what you will about Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos or Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. At least we know who's responsible for the product.
And what a product it's been this year, as Deadspin recounts:
They fined a player for helping kids. They kill people with sausages. They lose at rain delays. They misspelled their players' names. They misspelled a President's name. They misspelled their own name. We're not even counting the fact that their former GM stole millions of dollars from prospects that didn't exist.Maybe it's time for the Lerner family to stop worrying about spending on office supplies and turn control over to a real front office that can put a real team on the field.
