Fire Matt Williams! (2015) - Standard Decision.

[MarquisDeSade]

Maybe it is because I'm a Flyers and Eagles fan from Philly (who also happens to root for the Nationals, as I hate the Phillies), but I'd fire Matt Williams right now. The Flyers definitely would dump him by now. This start is absolutely intolerable.

I think Matt Williams is a horrible manager with no leadership skills but nobody, that's not Jeff Loria, is going to fire the reigning NL Manager of the Year.  Hockey management changes are insane (Barry Melrose gets hired, the Pens fire Disco Dan) so I don't think those will ever happen in MLB (as great as they would be) but if this season goes to complete crap (meaning <90 ugly wins and missing the playoffs) and Rizzo and the Lerners stick with Williams that tells you they're going to give him a long leash. 

They are in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs at this point already. Six game losing streak! This is not what the Lerners or the fans are paying for. If I had three months as bad as Williams has had (Playoffs, Spring Training and April), I'd be crapcanned already.

Calm down Francis, it's still April and plenty of teams turn it around after the All-Star break and even later.  They key is for him is not to lose the team but a lot of that is going to depend on whether or not the players can stay healthy (biggest question mark with this team) and produce.

This guy makes a lot of money to produce and he flat out can't.

I must have missed Matt Williams missing the pickoff attempt yesterday and taking meatball dead red BP fastballs for strike three.

[Ray D]

I'd fire Matt Williams right now.

Who would you replace him with?

[Slateman]

Randy Knor

[mdnatsfan]

Who would you replace him with?

I don't know enough about Baseball to say I know who to replace Williams with, but I think this team requires the best possible manager available. Williams was a nobody.

[mdnatsfan]

I think Matt Williams is a horrible manager with no leadership skills but nobody, that's not Jeff Loria, is going to fire the reigning NL Manager of the Year.  Hockey management changes are insane (Barry Melrose gets hired, the Pens fire Disco Dan) so I don't think those will ever happen in MLB (as great as they would be) but if this season goes to complete crap (meaning <90 ugly wins and missing the playoffs) and Rizzo and the Lerners stick with Williams that tells you they're going to give him a long leash. 

Maybe MLB owners need to start acting more like NHL owners. It is much more difficult to change coaches in the NFL, which is system-based. Baseball and Hockey are the same sport no matter who is coaching. The motivational skills of the manager/coach is much more important than the x's and o's in these sports. Williams sucks and doesn't match the talent on this team. He might be a fine manager for a team not ready to win a WS, but not for a team that is on the cusp (well, no longer).

Calm down Francis, it's still April and plenty of teams turn it around after the All-Star break and even later.  They key is for him is not to lose the team but a lot of that is going to depend on whether or not the players can stay healthy (biggest question mark with this team) and produce.

If this team falls any further behind, it will not turn it around. And I will "bump" this thread in August.

I must have missed Matt Williams missing the pickoff attempt yesterday and taking meatball dead red BP fastballs for strike three.

This gets back to Williams as motivator/leader. You play like you prepare. The spring training was putrid. No hitting. Not sure about the fielding, but I suspect Williams took it easy on the players. And now look at the mess we have.

[mdnatsfan]

I posted here after the playoff debacle that I would have fired Williams, and I really meant it. When you are running a billion dollar business, you have to make decisive moves. The Lerners will, I hope.

[Ray D]

I don't know enough about Baseball to say I know who to replace Williams with

It was a rhetorical question.  The damage is done; replacing Williams isn't going to accomplish much.

I do believe that when we replaced Riggleman with Davey Johnson, that had a significant, positive long-term impact.  But there is no Davey Johnson waiting in the wings.

[Ray D]

The motivational skills of the manager/coach is much more important than the x's and o's

We I think there are three attributes: motivational skills, Xs and Os, and preparation/coaching.  And I think the latter is far more important than the other two, and that's what's missing.  I don't know, at this point, how to correct that.

[PebbleBall]

According to two scouts who have seen them this year, the Nats appear "lifeless" and/or "flat." (One voted flat, the other lifeless.)

And, if they are flat or lifeless on the field, you should see them in the clubhouse, where some of them appear moribund. The room is close to dead, too dead for late April.
...
"They seem lifeless -- no fight at all," one scout said.

"They look flat. It's like 25 individuals rather than a team," another said.
...
But the worrisome thing about this team isn't just the way it has played, it's the way some players responded later.
...
This should be a very confident group. But it doesn't seem that way, at least not all the way around.
...
At the very least, they look in need of a pep talk, someone or something to remind them how great they should be.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/25164267/nats-are-playing-miserably-and-perhaps-as-bad-seem-depressed

[skippy1999]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/25164267/nats-are-playing-miserably-and-perhaps-as-bad-seem-depressed

That's a tired article, I mean I think the losing would make anyone depressed, maybe a pep talk will help them but they just need to play better and then I'm sure there'll be nothing but rainbows and giggles in the clubhouse. 

[Kevrock]

lol, can you imagine the uproar here if they were smiling a lot?

[PC]

Keith Law absolutely despises Williams as a manager:

keithlaw @keithlaw  ·  2h 2 hours ago
keithlaw retweeted JarekFA

I truly don't know. Williams is the Nats' #1 weakness and whatever #2 is isn't close.

[PebbleBall]

Shoulda won 13-4 Matt.

[DPMOmaha]

Keith Law absolutely despises Williams as a manager:

I thought we didn't like KLaw around here?

[PC]

I thought we didn't like KLaw around here?

We don't.

[DPMOmaha]

Cool. Just checking.

[Clever]

Shoulda won 13-4 Matt.

woah

[PebbleBall]

woah

  Matt is magical.

[PebbleBall]

Shoulda swept the Mets Matt.

[NJ Ave]

Keith Law absolutely despises Williams as a manager:

Williams easily COULD be our biggest weakness, however. I think most studies show that most managers range in value from -2 to +2 wins per season. So if you're in the -1 to -2 range (say the weakest 25% of MLB managers) is there usually a player bad enough to be worth -1 to -2 WAR? If there is, he usually gets released or sent down.

But it's weird when KLaw gets fixated on things. He blames Matt Williams for everything that happened with Bryce Harper last season (even though articles came out largely backing the fact that many veterans in the clubhouse thought Harper was thinking too much about himself and too little about the team). And now that Bryce seems like he's reached a really nice place and seemingly matured a ton, I'm sure that has NOTHING to do with having a manager that didn't coddle him like Davey and instead demanded he take every place seriously and grow up.

[NJ Ave]

And Bryce himself has talked about how Matt Williams has helped him stop trying to kill the ball and just have quick hands that allow more contact and adjustments but still allow him to tap into the power.

Of course, to guys like KLaw that have already picked a side, that's something Bryce would have done ANYWAY, nothing good can ever be tied to Matt Williams.

[blue911]

And Bryce himself has talked about how Matt Williams has helped him stop trying to kill the ball and just have quick hands that allow more contact and adjustments but still allow him to tap into the power.

Of course, to guys like KLaw that have already picked a side, that's something Bryce would have done ANYWAY, nothing good can ever be tied to Matt Williams.

Bryce showed up a Williams house for a fund raiser during the Super Bowl. I'm pretty sure that there isn't any lingering resentment on Harper's part.

[UMDNats]

lol, can you imagine the uproar here if they were smiling a lot?

gotta get dmitri young in here

[NJ Ave]

They were talking about Jose Mourinho after Chelsea's BPL-clinching victory yesterday. The announcers were saying that it's one thing to be given all the talent in the world (see Man City). It's another to get all those superstars to buy into all the things they need to do for the team to be successful. It's hard to get the Eden Hazards of the world to dig in defensively even if that's what it take to win a match.

I'm not saying that Matt Williams is a perfect, great or even good manager. But let's not downplay his success managing the personalities of some pretty talented ballplayers that have been asked to do things out of their comfort zone:

Ryan Zimmerman in LF and 1B
Anthony Rendon at 2B
Danny Espinosa and Yunel Escobar at 3B
Tanner Roark to the bullpen
Rafael Soriano losing his closer's role
Jayson Werth to RF
Bryce Harper not running balls out, claiming he should take over CF, missing cutoff men, getting caught on the bases, etc. etc. etc.
A number of very important players playing lame-duck seasons

And he's handled these things very well in my opinion. None of them became long-term distractions.

I think we all have problems with some of his "strategic" moves. But I think you can learn the strategy (or at least some guys can). I don't think you can learn the people side of things necessarily (Bobby Valentine?), and I think he shows promise in that side of it.

Randy Wittman gets a similar bad rap. Everyone bemoans the clogged toilet offense when he's really a magician who's gotten the team to buy in on the defensive end, which is one of the hardest things an NBA coach can do. By all means, let's go get Mike D'Antoni in here to install a great offense...that always works.

[Five Banners]

"I'm not saying that Matt Williams is a perfect, great or even good manager. But let's not downplay his success managing the personalities of some pretty talented ballplayers that have been asked to do things out of their comfort zone...
And he's handled these things very well in my opinion. None of them became long-term distractions."

Very well? Leaving aside the strategic moves that you admit we all have problems with, this team looks flat and lifeless to quote outsiders, and completely unprepared, from the rash of errors to plate discipline and so forth.  The Mets and Marlins?  They've handled things very well.  Here, success has not exactly been on display, especially when the pressure has been on. 

As far as long-term distractions, we're still in April, and we've already seen the kid-glove handling necessary for Escobar; I'd say the jury is out on long-term distractions as the team attempts to clamber up the standings.

The team cratered before an outside motivational force (Simmons) combined with the less-than-amazing Braves to eke out a series win, yay.  Let's see whether that sustains itself or if the problems already present persist.  If a Ftorek-for-Robinson switch is in order (New Jersey's late season firing that ended with a Stanley Cup), better sooner rather than later.

Back to the strategic side, it affected last year's playoff aspirations, and it's hardly surprising that many are not exactly fine with having this team at the peak of its window for contention to have the manager just now learning strategy.