Sixteen years ago, in 2009, I married my wife, Lara, in January of that year. Two months later, the scandal rocked, Washington Nationals named Mike Rizzo the interim GM, a role he has held ever since. That is until yesterday when he was let go by the Washington Nationals.
It is hard to say it is undeserved. For everything that has gone right this year for the Washington Nationals even more has gone wrong. The bullpen construction is an absolute mess, there are questions at second base and catcher that looked like they were resolved, and, at times, the team looks lost on the field.
Four years into their current rebuild and starting to look like they’ve taken a step back the Nationals made to decision to part ways with their general manager. A general manager who was the second longest tenured in baseball and had been the architect of the 2019 World Series championship.
Sports fandom is a bit like a marriage. In the time Mike Rizzo has been the general manager of the Washington Nationals I quit my job, attempted another job, started working for a dog walking company, started a podcast and wrote for five or six different Nationals blogs, moved to Virginia Beach, started my own dog walking and pet sitting business, had three children, and lost a parent. That is a lot to happen in 16 years and as James Earl Jones put it the one constant was baseball, and for all that time Mike Rizzo was the unquestioned leader of my favorite team.
Now the Nationals face an uncertain future. A new GM takes over in the middle of a project. A rebuild that has started to pay dividends in the emergence of James Wood and McKenzie Gore and the continued development of CJ Abrams. can the new GM put the pieces around those three to bring the Nationals back to glory or will he trade some of them to start fresh with his own pieces? Time will tell, but it is both uncertain and doubtful that the new GM will have the same impact on Washington Sports as Mike Rizzo.
David Huzzard Writes 