Rizzo Renewed by Marky Mark & the In-Laws

[HalfSmokes]

If the don’t want national writers bashing them, they could try not sucking

[blue911]

If the don’t want national writers bashing them, they could try not sucking

Or not get rid of competent coaches.

[PowerBoater69]

Rizzo on the Sports Junkies: "it depends on how you get to 68 wins if [list of players] are all playing great and we just aren't winning games for whatever reason for then I would view that as we are going in the right direction."

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3390739707771-nationals-gm-mike-rizzo-tells-junkies-building-blocks-of-championship-club-are-coming-into-view?noAds=1&_f=app_share&s=i2

That is a man who has no fear of the hot seat. 68 wins, no problem, we're building the right way.[/list]

[varoadking]

Rizzo on the Sports Junkies: "it depends on how you get to 68 wins if [list of players] are all playing great and we just aren't winning games for whatever reason for then I would view that as we are going in the right direction."

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3390739707771-nationals-gm-mike-rizzo-tells-junkies-building-blocks-of-championship-club-are-coming-into-view?noAds=1&_f=app_share&s=i2

That is a man who has no fear of the hot seat. 68 wins, no problem, we're building the right way.[/list]

So 68 wins is your benchmark...depending upon how we get there?  You lose 96 games is how you get there, Mike...yeesh...

Do these jerks have no shame?

[PowerBoater69]

So 68 wins is your benchmark...depending upon how we get there?  You lose 96 games is how you get there, Mike...yeesh...

Do these jerks have no shame?

The Junkies threw out the 68 number but Rizzo admitted that losing more games than last year would still be considered a step forward if certain players perform well.

[varoadking]

The Junkies threw out the 68 number but Rizzo admitted that losing more games than last year would still be considered a step forward if certain players perform well.

The benchmark used to be competing for championships...now we're OK being a .420 team...IF we do it the right way!  jerks...

[HalfSmokes]

The benchmark used to be competing for championships...now we're OK being a .420 team...IF we do it the right way!  jerks...

At this point, I’ll take meaningful games down the stretch.

[PowerBoater69]

The benchmark used to be competing for championships...now we're OK being a .420 team...IF we do it the right way!  jerks...

Another thing that Rizzo said during the interview was twice referencing a decade of playoff contention. Eight years is close to a decade but it isn't a decade.

[Natsinpwc]

The Lerners would have to fire themselves first.  They obviously are comfortable with Rizzo and he is comfortable with them.  Ultimately they will sink or swim on how the prospects pan out. We can only hope they do and that the owners are willing to spend to supplement the new core group.  There are not any indications Rizzo had the go ahead to sign any free agents the last couple years to make the team competitive.  Wonder when Mark Lerner will go an do a radio interview.   

[IanRubbish]

They obviously are comfortable with Rizzo and he is comfortable with them.

Because he plays their game of politics and personal preferences over performance.  They've always needed a PR shield, and Rizzo took that on after Stan Kasten left.  From his perspective it's a great deal.  He can draft and develop terribly, and keep his job by giving insult-the-fans-intelligence defensive interviews once a week on 106.7 The Fan.  He's not getting another GM job so he'll keep doing that for as long as he can.

[Slateman]

Not sure I have any problem with what he said. He's being handcuffed by ownership. So if you get MLB average or better from CJ, Ruiz, Gore, and maybe one of Garcia/Lipscomb, then .... yea, thats a successful season in a rebuild.

[HalfSmokes]

Not sure I have any problem with what he said. He's being handcuffed by ownership. So if you get MLB average or better from CJ, Ruiz, Gore, and maybe one of Garcia/Lipscomb, then .... yea, thats a successful season in a rebuild.

His drafts have been crap and so has player development.

[Natsinpwc]

His drafts have been crap and so has player development.

Well yeah and the Lerners gave him a big contract.  Not his fault. 

[Natsinpwc]

Because he plays their game of politics and personal preferences over performance.  They've always needed a PR shield, and Rizzo took that on after Stan Kasten left.  From his perspective it's a great deal.  He can draft and develop terribly, and keep his job by giving insult-the-fans-intelligence defensive interviews once a week on 106.7 The Fan.  He's not getting another GM job so he'll keep doing that for as long as he can.

Well he did win a title.  Would you trust the Lerners to find a better GM if they fired Rizzo!  I don’t.  The Soto trade looks good but could be a slam dunk if Wood becomes a very good players.  If he and Crews are good he’s back in the saddle again. 

[varoadking]

Well he did win a title.  Would you trust the Lerners to find a better GM if they fired Rizzo!  I don’t.  The Soto trade looks good but could be a slam dunk if Wood becomes a very good players.  If he and Crews are good he’s back in the saddle again.

By the time Crews cracks the starting lineup, we won't have to worry about re-signing him after his arbitration years...he'll already be past his prime at that point...

[HalfSmokes]

Well he did win a title.  Would you trust the Lerners to find a better GM if they fired Rizzo!  I don’t.  The Soto trade looks good but could be a slam dunk if Wood becomes a very good players.  If he and Crews are good he’s back in the saddle again. 

And then he bottomed out for years. Competent organizations don’t need multiple last place finishes to be competitive

[Mattionals]

I'm not going to defend anyone, but building a contender is difficult. If you have no money, you are essentially the Royals or the Pirates. You've got to have a top notch scouting, training, and development staff to develop talent and bring them up. It's why the Pirates and Royals have only been in contender tion for a very short window, and then stunk for FAR longer than their window.

Next would be spending, but you still need to spend smartly. The Mets are the perfect example of spending poorly. They've also traded away from their farm on players who never produced to their old numbers (I've never been as high on Lindor as his production in Cleveland showed) and now they are only marginally better than the Marlins.

I think everything starts and ends with ownership. I want a group that would focus more on an analytics department, stay out of the way for any baseball decisions other than contracts, and also not saddle the team with a bunch of Chris Davis deals. I think Corbin imploding was more on the lack of actual training, development, and real coaching, and less of Corbin turning into a pumpkin. The Stras contract was one that would have inexplicably had injuries in it, but coming off that WS MVP and clearly not knowing the full extent of the injury was what did Stras in. I don't think any of us expected Stras to functionally lose the use of his right arm.

[IanRubbish]

Well he did win a title.  Would you trust the Lerners to find a better GM if they fired Rizzo!  I don’t.  The Soto trade looks good but could be a slam dunk if Wood becomes a very good players.  If he and Crews are good he’s back in the saddle again.

No good GM would last here.  Let's say they hired the next Andrew Friedman, who could win with a small payroll. They would meddle in decision making and more importantly, require that person to be their mouthpiece for their unusual decisions or to cover up for them,  and come up with nonsense like "Strasburg will be at ST to mentor".  If he wasn't, they'd bring in a President over that GM, like Stan Kasten was, who would make it difficult for the good GM to operate with any kind of authority.  Bowden was not a great GM, but he wasn't a mouthpiece either, and any good GM would get Kastened here like he was.

Getting a valuable player in return for Juan Soto or with the #2 overall pick would not make him a good GM.  A good GM like Alex A with the Braves drafts and develops talent without having to throw away 5+ seasons or trade a top player who has 2.5 seasons left before free agency.  Or if a team does tank, a good GM like Mike Elias drafts and develops a succession of players, not one or two, who can sustain high performance for limited payroll for a long time, and without the defensive PR.

Re: the title, with 40% of the league making the playoffs now, it just takes a run at the end of the season.  The 2019 Nats were a wild card team that got hot at the right time, much like the Rangers and Diamondbacks last year.   

Rizzo is a bad GM who is still here because of his PR role.  He'd be long gone and would likely lose a political battle with a President of Baseball Ops who would be placed in between him and the Lerners if he wasn't a mouthpiece.  But if he was at least mediocre, he would at least draft and develop far better than he has.   Yes, the Lerners demand a mouthpiece who will insult fans intelligence, but that would be less hard to take if 5 years into a tank and a few major trades later, we didn't still have zero top pitching prospects and nowhere near the hitting prospects pipeline of better run orgs.

[Natsinpwc]

And then he bottomed out for years. Competent organizations don’t need multiple last place finishes to be competitive

How many organizations have been competitive for day the last 15 years?  There’s only a few.  The ownership started pinching pennys and wanted to sell the team.  Need new ownership. 

[HalfSmokes]

How many organizations have been competitive for day the last 15 years?  There’s only a few.  The ownership started pinching pennys and wanted to sell the team.  Need new ownership. 

How many have multiple 100 loss seasons? That’s the company the nats are in.

[Natsinpwc]

How many have multiple 100 loss seasons? That’s the company the nats are in.

How many have a championship in the last 15 years.  That is also the company they are in. 

Things look bleak now. It’s 90 percent on the owners.  They gave Rizzo a new contract and have left the manager in place. 

[Natsinpwc]

Also isn’t it better to bottom out and get the high draft picks rather than staying in the middle and not being a real competitor?  People always scream for tanking until the losses come in large numbers.

I think only the Dodgers and Yankees have been competitive over the last 15 years.  Only the big money teams can stay on top. 

[Natsinpwc]

The Astros and Orioles have three 100 loss seasons during that time.  Throw in one 90 loss season for Houston.  If you make it twenty years the Orioles have six 90 loss seasons to go with their three 100 loss seasons.  So the Nationals are in good company! 

[IanRubbish]

Also isn’t it better to bottom out and get the high draft picks rather than staying in the middle and not being a real competitor?  People always scream for tanking until the losses come in large numbers.

I think only the Dodgers and Yankees have been competitive over the last 15 years.  Only the big money teams can stay on top.

The Braves are about to win a 7th straight division title and had only one last place finish in their down years.  The Giants, playing in a comparably sized market, have had some ups and downs, but nothing like what this org does by falling flat on its face.  With 12 of 30 teams making the playoffs now, it is absolutely is worse to throw away seasons and play for draft picks, especially if you do it for years on end.  You can be mediocre now and go on a playoff run.  The Lerners pinch pennies by only spending in 50% of seasons, not all of them, and then deferring tons of payroll in the seasons when they do spend.  They then use Rizzo to spread whipped cream over their dog turds by insulting our intelligence with garbage PR.   This is why I don't see Mini Me and co. as all that much better than Snyder.  Maybe not quite as evil, but nearly as inept.

[IanRubbish]

The Astros and Orioles have three 100 loss seasons during that time.  Throw in one 90 loss season for Houston.  If you make it twenty years the Orioles have six 90 loss seasons to go with their three 100 loss seasons.  So the Nationals are in good company!

Not even close.  The Astros have had a longer, stronger run of success on a shorter tank than the Nats needed, and the Nats are the only org that's had to tank for 5 seasons at a time more than once in the last 20 years.  The Orioles didn't tank, they were mismanaged by Angelos for years.  But however you describe it, at least they came out of it with a remarkable stream of prospects, most of whom were home grown via draft and int'l signings.  If you add the tanking, the poor development operation, and the person responsible for the bad development still being here, I'd say the Nats have no company in MLB.   No other team puts politics and PR over performance as badly as this one does.  Worst run org in the league, and it's not close.