The Nationals made it official on Monday when they announced that Davey Johnson will return in 2012 as the team’s field manager.
No surprise that the team picked up Johnson’s managerial option at this point. Johnson had taken over the club on June 27 and led the team to a 40-43 record the rest of the season, 80-81 overall, and the first third-place finish for a District-based club since 1945. With a relatively young roster and some key players returning from injury for a full 2012 season, optimism is surging around the Nats.
“Winning a division. Winning the National League,” Johnson said when asked what his own expectations were for the coming year.
Plenty of work still to do for a team that won 15 of its final 20 games in 2011. Washington general manager Mike Rizzo has said an every-day centerfield – ideally a leadoff hitter – and another starting pitcher are the two parts he wants to add through free agency or a trade. There will be other additions and subtractions, however.
The Nats started with their coaching staff, which will return intact save for bench coach Pat Corrales. Johnson’s longtime friend is 70 now and will remain with the organization in another capacity. Otherwise, pitching coach Steve McCatty, hitting coach Rick Eckstein, third-base coach Bo Porter, first-base coach Trent Jewett and bullpen coach Jim Lett will all return to their duties under Johnson.
One of only six people in baseball history to win a World Series title as both a player and a manager, Johnson had been with Washington as a consultant since 2006 and was named a senior advisor to Rizzo after the 2009 season. After taking over for Jim Riggleman on June 27, Johnson signed a three-year contract with Washington that included an option to manage in 2012. When did he know he wanted to return to the dugout?
“We worked pretty good together. I think we accomplished a lot of things,” Johnson said. “I’d say probably the last two or three weeks in seeing when I had kind of more the mixture of talent that I wanted on the ballclub and seeing how they all worked together. That was when I really felt there’s so much more we can do here. And I need to be here to help see it along.”
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