I wrote yesterday about the sudden resignation of Nationals manager Jim Riggleman over his contract status. Many, many people also wrote about this topic, including, it seems, every single baseball writer at ESPN. For that reason, and to avoid redundancy, I’m going to keep this short.
What Jim Riggleman did yesterday was unforgivable. There is no excuse for walking away from your team in the middle of a season, in the middle of a winning streak, in the middle of the best stretch in franchise history, over a contractual dispute. I understand the value of principle, and that Riggleman thinks that one-year contracts are against his principles and hinder the fulfillment of his responsibilities. To that, I say that he was not forced to sign his contract, he did so willingly. And when he did, he committed to his responsibilities regardless of wether or not his option for 2012 was picked up.
Riggleman’s actions should effectively guarantee that he will never get another managerial job again. And they will. I wouldn’t hire him under any circumstances for my team. Riggleman betrayed his players, his fans, and the organization by resigning and, in doing so, forfeited the right to try again. By wanting a longer term job at any cost, Riggleman has basically ensured himself no job at all. Plus, he’s just not that good a manager. He’s career 662-824 on the bench. He’s had exactly one winning season. Good riddance Jim, quitting makes you a quitter.
Stat of the Day Extraordinaire: I promised it last week and here it is:
In 2009, the US consumed the energy equivalent of 992,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline.
-Max Frankel
