You knew something was up when reporters were kept waiting in the media room at Nationals Park for manager Jim Riggleman’s postgame press conference. Usually that means a player has been let go or Riggleman is getting briefed on an injury update. But what should have been an upbeat chat about a team that has now won 11 of 12 games was anything but that. Hat tip to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, who wasn’t at the game on Thursday – the traveling reporters are all headed to Chicago in the morning – but was first with the news. As reporters dashed towards the clubhouse, general manager Mike Rizzo was coming the other way down the corridor with the somber, shocking news: Riggleman had resigned.
In hindsight, this is an issue that’s been simmering for months. Riggleman was named interim manager at the All-Star break in 2009 after manager Manny Acta was fired. But he was on a two-year contract last season with a meager buyout – essentially an easy out for the organization with virtually no penalty – and began this year under those same terms when the team declined to pick up his option last fall. It didn’t sit well with a proud man. Yes, he was managing in his hometown. Yes, there are only 30 of these jobs in the major leagues. It is quite possible Riggleman, 58, will never manage again. He appeared at peace with that decision.
“I made it very clear that I can’t say no to this, but this is a bad contract for a manager,” Riggleman said when he signed the deal to be the permanent manager after the 2009 season. “There’s no option for Jim Riggleman. It’s a one-year option that the club decides on. And that’s not a good way to do business. I made it very clear that I didn’t like that. But you know I can’t say no to it. So there I am and two years later I’m realizing I was right – it’s not a good way to do business.”
For his part, Rizzo thought the timing of Riggleman’s decision was poor form. The Nats are starting to play competitive baseball for the first time since 2005 – and this time they have some solid veterans, a young core of players and more on the way. The 2005 squad was an aging team that faded after a hot start. It had a barren minor-league system and was still owned by Major League Baseball. That’s not the case now. This group can at least dream on the postseason in a year or two.
“I talked to Jim before the season and have emphasized since that no decision would be made on his extension until after the end of the season,” Rizzo said in a statement. “I am surprised and disappointed, personally, and am even more disappointed for our players and fans. I was always taught that one of the cardinal rules of baseball was that no individual can put his interests before those of the team.”
Rizzo released that statement after he had already spoken to reporters. But he said essentially the same thing to us. He just wasn’t prepared to be backed into a corner. You wonder why this ultimatum – and that’s essentially what Riggleman gave, though he insisted he just wanted a conversation – wasn’t delivered last October. That was when Riggleman learned the team was not ready to pick up the option on his contract. He was a lame duck manager in 2011 and when it became clear a fine start to the season wouldn’t immediately change things he finally did what managers everywhere are trained to do. He went with his gut and made a decision.
“I’m not happy about it. But I just feel in my heart that this is the right thing to do,” Riggleman said. “As I said – you got to send a message to professional ballplayers that this man here is the manager, this man here is the head coach. Whatever sport. And that the players understand he’s going to be there. Basically when you’re on a one-year deal you’re the interim manager.”
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