Jim Riggleman, apparently, is a man of his word.

[missouridawg]

Yesterday, prior to the game, he approached Tom Rizzo, owner of the Nats, and said if you don't pick up my option by the end of the night, I'm resigning.

After the game, in which the Nationals won and got above .500 for the first time this season, he re-approached Rizzo. Rizzo informed him that no decision had been made and Riggleman promptly resigned.

PTI guys were referring to Riggleman as a gangster... and I think that's a pretty accurate description.

 

[dawgatUSM]

I was always a fan of Riggleman, but of course, the Cubs never gave him anything to work with. And, I was tired of the Mike Quade experiment the day it started.

 

[mstatefan88]

I would thinkif the Nats had come to him with a plan theyhad been working on already, he wouldn't have resigned. An organization that doesn't or hasn't even thought aboutrenewing it's coaches option midway through the season when they are on pace for their best record by farin over a decade might not be the best place to be.The Expos/Nats organization has been in disarray since the strike in '94 ruined them, and not doing whatever they could to keep Riggleman was a bad move on their part.

 

[riverdawg]

He comes to them during a winning streak and demands the team pick up his option? Talk about some timing. Why not do it three weeks ago when the team was foundering in last place as usual? The Nats are riding a hot streak right now that's probably not going to last. Management probably would like to see how the rest of the season plays out before they talk about contract extentions. Because they would look pretty stupid if they extended Riggleman now and then the team proceeded to lose 12 of its next 15 games and fall back into last place.

 

[jcdawgman18]

He comes to them during a winning streak and demands the team pick up his option? Talk about some timing. Why not do it three weeks ago when the team was foundering in last place as usual? The Nats are riding a hot streak right now that's probably not going to last. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Management probably would like to see how the rest of the season plays out before they talk about contract extentions. Because they would look pretty stupid if they extended Riggleman now and then the team proceeded to lose 12 of its next 15 games and fall back into last place.</span>

I totally understand the Nationals position on this. Extending him right now would be similar to WV hiring Bill Stewart based on that Fiesta Bowl game. It feels good in the moment, but it's not a prudent decision in the long run. Much smarter to go with something proven.

On a related note, it terrifies me as a Braves fan to see how much talent they're stockpiling up there. Start making sound decisions, and they could be dangerous.

 

[Todd4State]

And he forced the issue for whatever reason.

 

[Todd4State]

A lot of people don't talk about him a whole lot, but we might see Tyler Moore up with them in a couple of years.

Not only are they stockpiling talent like Strasburg and Harper- they've shown that they will go out and spend some money and get guys like Jayson Werth as well.

 

[MSUArrowCS]

They give the guy his first non-interim managing job since 1999 and then he pulls this just because he's got the team over .500 in June? The guy really needs to get over himself. The team is one game over .500 and has needed two walkoffs in the past few days just to get there. Punk move, and a loser's mentality. The Nats are 8.5 out of first and 4.5 out of the Wild Card. Good riddance, then, if they want to change the culture.

And yes, they're pretty close to being competitive in the East. They have two very good arms in Strasburg and Zimmerman, and two decent ones in Lannan and Gorzelanny. I'll get scared if guys like Desmond, Espinosa, Morse, and Nix keep doing what they've been doing consistently. One thing their front office could have done better is to have traded Adam Dunn at the deadline last year. They could have really landed a haul (including some relief pitching that they desperately need), but instead got nothing when he walked.