The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Below is 2 polls about the next Nats manager.  Let us know your thoughts.  One name that has joined the rumor mill is Don Mattingly.

Don Mattingly has avoided the firing squad in LA for years now, and his time could be up shortly which would allow GM Farhan Zaidi the ability to hire his own manager.

Rizzo and Mattingly know each other well and Mattingly’s agent Ray Schulte happens to live in Potomac, MD which probably won’t factor into it except for the ease of negotiating.  It would be a risk for Rizzo to bring in a Manager like Mattingly who has been called an underachiever; however, Donnie Baseball also has his supporters who say the GM’s in LA have created a dysfunctional group of players who are selfish and can’t play as a team. The Dodgers have had a team of multiple All Stars who faltered each time into the playoffs and the Dodger’s $300+ million in 2015 payroll were underachievers as their entire back of their rotation faltered and several position players went into deep slumps.

While Theriot missed what Money Ball is in his tweet, the rest is humorous:

So I missed the game last night..how'd the 314 million dollar payroll work out for the Dodgers?#moneyballdoesntwork

— ryan theriot (@rtheriot7) October 16, 2015

Our questions are, what’s your opinion of Mattingly and some of the other names floated? Two Polls below!
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As we reported last week, Ron Wotus would be interviewed by Rizzo and that should happen on Monday as we reported earlier today.  If you have been reading our posts on the search for the new Manager, you read the quote from Mike Rizzo who is looking for a tactical manager who can communicate and be a leader.

Here is the quote from Rizzo  about his candidates, “As we go through our laundry list of things that we look for in our [new] manager, the perfect leader of the ballclub on the field with leadership qualities and knowledge of x’s and o’s are all important. Communication in the clubhouse and communication within the coaching staff is vital. Experience is always helpful.  It always adds a layer of expertise to anybody’s résumé.”

Ron Wotus is such a good communicator that he speaks so often you would think he is the Manager.  He is regularly on a radio show on KNBR and here he is with Chris Russo for a long interview during the World Series of 2014:  VIDEO OF RON WOTUS Hopefully that gives you an idea of that charismatic side of Ron Wotus.  How many bench coaches can you name that have radio shows and give regular interviews?

As far as being a tactician with the x’s and o’s,  that is more difficult to say about a long-term bench coach who hasn’t managed in the Majors, only the Minors, and Rizzo will have to figure out those questions and his leadership abilities. Wotus does have the impressive résumé as he has 3 World Series rings and lots of other baseball accomplishments.  Wotus has apprenticed under one of the best—Bruce Bochy.  Wotus was a Manager in the Minor Leagues for the Giants from from 1991 to 1997 and his W/L record was 554-412 (.574 win %) and he won the Manager of the Year award twice.  Wotus became the Giants 3rd base coach under Dusty Baker in 1998 and was promoted to bench coach in 1999 where he has served over 2,750 games to present.

WOTUS rhymes with POTUS and that is a Washington DC thing and if Ronny gets the job you can expect some fun memes.  How coincidental is it that the last great communicator in Washington was named Ronny and he was the 40th POTUS and coincidentally Ron Wotus had 40 Plate Appearances in his career on games started by RHPs.  Wotus also had 2 terms in the Major Leagues lasting just 2 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Reagan did the same as a 2 term POTUS.  Also like Reagan, Wotus has spent most of his time in California and the East Coast.  What airport do you think Wotus will be flying into? Thinking that might be Reagan National.

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Mike Rizzo is an interview machine.  He is not leaving a stone unturned this time in his search for a Manager.  Bud Black is meeting with Mike Rizzo today, and he met with Dusty Baker yesterday and Phil Nevin earlier in the week and has talked by phone with several potential candidates.   Alex Cora is another of the popular names out there and Ron Wotus reportedly will be interviewed as part of the list of 20 others that we compiled last week and our suggestion on how the interview should including playing chess. 

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon All rights reserved)

The Nats Managers job has to be one of the more attractive jobs out there among the few job openings that exist as the other jobs don’t have as much to offer in terms of a winning record or a clubhouse with a previous Cy Young ace who threw 2 no-hitters this year and an outfielder who should be the reigning NL MVP.

Update: 3:45PM:  Ron Wotus who is the current bench coach for the San Francisco Giants is scheduled to interview with Mike Rizzo on Monday.  Read out Oct 8th story on Wotus and comments we made prior.