Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman resigned today after a 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners, the Nats 11th in their last 12 games. Riggleman was reportedly unhappy with his contract situation. I think that this shows an incredible selfishness on Riggleman’s part. I don’t know the specifics of his contract but he agreed to the terms of the deal and has been in DC for 3 seasons. Why Riggleman felt the need to abandon his suddenly successful team at this point in the season is beyond me. If I was a Nats player I’d be really upset. This is the guy who’s supposed to lead the team and instead he walks away just when things are starting to go swell over money. Honestly, this doesn’t say good things about old Jim’s character.
Now, all the details aren’t out yet. We only know what the Nats GM Mike Rizzo said in his presser after today’s game. Other exculpatory evidence can come out over the next hours and days but for right now, this seems pretty ridiculous.
I don’t have time to fully go into this right now so I’ll leave my thoughts at this for now and write more fully when I can.
-Max Frankel
