Jim Riggleman deserves a contract extension.
The Washington Nationals manager enters Thursday’s season-opener in an option year, meaning there are no commitments on either side for 2012. That’s not right.
Riggleman has done a fine job since taking over an awful team on July 14, 2009. The Nats were a respectable 33-42 over that season’s second half after a 22-61 start and 69-93 last year when injuries decimated the roster.
It always seems the Nats are trying to time hiring a big-name manager for when the team starts to win. Like Manny Acta and Riggleman weren’t sexy enough to sell tickets. As if the Lerner family will spend big money on a big name to lure fans and these guys are simply caretakers until the next baseball version of Pat Riley can be found.
Winning is sexy. Winning fills seats. Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg may eventually pack the house.
The manager? Give me a nondescript guy who walks down Pennsylvania Ave. unnoticed because it means he’s doing his job. A real baseball man who anticipates late-inning matchups three moves ahead and doesn’t leave a bat on the bench.
That’s Riggleman.
He’s a rare Washingtonian who wants this job after a generational loss of a team leaves few from the old days when the woeful Senators were more popular than the woeful Redskins. Wait, both franchises were woeful in the past few years. The good old days are back.
The Nats appear on the brink of a .500 season and thoughts of hiring a big-name skipper for 2012 should be vanquished because Riggleman has earned the job.
Want to argue his batting lineup? Why is Jayson Werth batting second instead of fourth or fifth? Tradition says don’t pay $126 million for a top-of-the-order hitter. But Riggleman isn’t so old school he won’t recognize the Nats need someone on base for Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche to knock in. It’s a smart move, the kind that shows why the team should re-sign Riggleman. That Werth has no outward problem with the move shows Riggleman effectively explained why the move makes sense.
Yelling and screaming at players is great for Hollywood movies like “Bull Durham” and “A League of Their Own.” It may have worked until the 1970s when players started making enough money to realize they were important. But today’s manager is a quiet strategist who inspires confidence through smart moves. That’s Riggleman. Leave the yelling to posers. It never works for more than a game or two.
If the Nats have a winning record come August, Riggleman’s status will become a distraction. Why let that happen? Riggleman deserves a two-year extension now.
After all, rewarding a job well done is the old-school way to winning.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
