Fire Blake Butera!

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I think had this coaching staff coached the Nats the past couple of years, they win 3-5 more games each year. Especially if it were Toboni not Riz bringing in the talent

[HalfSmokes]

I think had this coaching staff coached the Nats the past couple of years, they win 3-5 more games each year. Especially if it were Toboni not Riz bringing in the talent

Find another 10 wins and they’re relevant again

[Slateman]

9 errors in 6 games.

[OfftheBat]

Mr Butera has 0 MLB coaching experience (well he has 6 games to his tally as of today) and we already have casuals on twitter saying that he's better than Davey 

[varoadking]

Mr Butera has 0 MLB coaching experience (well he has 6 games to his tally as of today) and we already have casuals on twitter saying that he's better than Davey 

Stepping on a rusty nail would be better than dimwit dave...

[OfftheBat]

Stepping on a rusty nail would be better than dimwit dave...

Haha I know that you're not the biggest fan of Dave but to say that Butera is a better coach than him with only 6 MLB games under his belt is crazy.

[blue911]

Haha I know that you're not the biggest fan of Dave but to say that Butera is a better coach than him with only 6 MLB games under his belt is crazy.

Ownership obviously thinks the same otherwise they would have hired someone else.

[Smithian]

Mr Butera has 0 MLB coaching experience (well he has 6 games to his tally as of today) and we already have casuals on twitter saying that he's better than Davey 

I think Martinez was a good manager. I think Rizzo was a good GM. I think things simply got stale and they lost the fire. Martinez pressers near the end were just depressing.

I don't think Butera is a better manager than a World Series winning manager with a decade prior as an assistant under Joe Maddon. I do think a fresh staff backed by a fresh front office is a better setup than what we had 12 months ago.

[Squab]

wasn't Davey kind of hailed as a young more modern forward thinking manager at the time, now he's an old fogey

[OfftheBat]

Ownership obviously thinks the same otherwise they would have hired someone else.

I don't think that they (ownership) care about winning or losing. IMO they needed a couple of scapegoats and Davey/Rizzo were just there at the right time to be fired. It seems like the only thing that ownership cares about is annual profits.

[Slateman]

I don't think that they (ownership) care about winning or losing. IMO they needed a couple of scapegoats and Davey/Rizzo were just there at the right time to be fired. It seems like the only thing that ownership cares about is annual profits.

Yep. This offseason was all about maximizing profitability for the team. All the coaches and front office staff are at the bottom end of their positional payscale due to being so inexperienced.

[Slateman]

Butera's bullpen management flat out lost us the game. You cant go closer by committee/platoon. You damn sure cant use three relievers in the 9th and send the guy who blew the game out for the 10th. People who try and say the save is sometimes in the 6th or 7th never closed a game. Closer by matchup/committee is dumb and its been proven to not work in baseball. Closing games is different than other relief appearances. Successful teams have the guy and not a closer by committee. You let Poulin face Schawrber in the 7th and Harper and Bohm in the 8th. Beeter or Henry finishes the 8th if Poulin cant. The other one starts the 9th clean and closes the game.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I wasn't happy about Poulin facing Schwarber and Harper on consecutive days. With soft stuff, I think he can fool those  guys only so often, but Perez was burned and Waldichuk had also pitched the day before (I forget the matchups). Everyone  in the bullpen came up just a little bit short on the way to Henry. After Cavalli,  it just seemed Granillio, Perez, Beeter, and Poulin were sort of "eh, we are leading so a run here and there doesn't matter." By the time it got to Henry, it was extremely high lev, middle of an inning, runners on. I don't yet have confidence in him in that kind of pressure.  The stuff is there, but he's not dialed in yet.

Bottom line, i'm not sure it was so much bullpen management and not bullpen underperformance. A bit of both by the time Henry was in.  Would be moot if Beeter had been clean.

[Slateman]

Oh and sending Henry back out for the 10th. Just absolutely set his guys up for failure.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Oh and sending Henry back out for the 10th. Just abssolutely set his guys up for failure.

Pulling Beeter after Trea's single (1 out in the 9th) to bring in Poulin for Schwarber, Harper, and Bohm was a the overmanaging move. I suppose  you S would  kick yourself if Schwarber or Harper took Beeter deep, but with Poulin having faced the guys the day before, Beeter not being homer-prone, why you don't keep the better pitcher in is really questionable.

That said, it's one game out of 6 where I'm left  questioning the guy.

[Slateman]

Pulling Beeter after Trea's single (1 out in the 9th) to bring in Poulin for Schwarber, Harper, and Bohm was a the overmanaging move. I suppose  you S would  kick yourself if Schwarber or Harper took Beeter deep, but with Poulin having faced the guys the day before, Beeter not being homer-prone, why you don't keep the better pitcher in is really questionable.

That said, it's one game out of 6 where I'm left  questioning the guy.

Its the difference between being able to use analytics to influence a game and managing a game by analytics. The analytics don't account for the 9th inning being a different. It feels different. There's way more pressure. There's no clock to run out, no where to hide. You have to get the outs. There has to be THE GUY in the 9th to close the games.

[tomterp]

I don't think that they (ownership) care about winning or losing. IMO they needed a couple of scapegoats and Davey/Rizzo were just there at the right time to be fired. It seems like the only thing that ownership cares about is annual profits.

Yep. This offseason was all about maximizing profitability for the team. All the coaches and front office staff are at the bottom end of their positional payscale due to being so inexperienced.

I'd be interesting in hearing how the signing of Zack Littell for $7 - $9m for a year boosts profitability.  Regarding the coaching and front office changes, it's likely true the salaries are lower but they also created and added quite a few more positions throughout the system, which mitigates lower salaries to an extent. 

[varoadking]

I'd be interesting in hearing how the signing of Zack Littell for $7 - $9m for a year boosts profitability.

Eyewash for the fans to keep them interested and buying $14 beers.  It's also a morale booster for the staff so they think they've actually accomplished something...

[Slateman]

I'd be interesting in hearing how the signing of Zack Littell for $7 - $9m for a year boosts profitability.  Regarding the coaching and front office changes, it's likely true the salaries are lower but they also created and added quite a few more positions throughout the system, which mitigates lower salaries to an extent. 

Toboni gonna flip him at the deadline for more prospects that will easily recoup the <5 million spent.

They have basically hired people that were at least two steps below the position they hired in to. And thats after purging all of Rizzo's old scouts. Id be impressed if front office, coaching, scouting, and player development payroll was even three quarter what it was in 2024. Ryan Zimmerman might be the highest paid non-player in the organization. 

[tomterp]

Eyewash for the fans to keep them interested and buying $14 beers.  It's also a morale booster for the staff so they think they've actually accomplished something...

But, doesn't improve profitability.

[tomterp]

Toboni gonna flip him at the deadline for more prospects that will easily recoup the <5 million spent.

Nope, no profitability improvement here. 

They have basically hired people that were at least two steps below the position they hired in to. And thats after purging all of Rizzo's old scouts. Id be impressed if front office, coaching, scouting, and player development payroll was even three quarter what it was in 2024. Ryan Zimmerman might be the highest paid non-player in the organization.

Possibly, but it's conjecture on our part.  Still, I'd much rather have the staff we have now than go back to what we had last year.  Was Darnell Coles better because he had a higher salary? 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

.

They have basically hired people that were at least two steps below the position they hired in to. And thats after purging all of Rizzo's old scouts.

you know this is wrong. Toboni was POBO Breslow's #2. He was in line to get the GM title. They basically hired a hot shot from one of the biggest organizations after they had a terrific development streak. It is a bump up, but that's what you do to get a guy like that

[Slateman]

Nope, no profitability improvement here. 

Possibly, but it's conjecture on our part.  Still, I'd much rather have the staff we have now than go back to what we had last year.  Was Darnell Coles better because he had a higher salary? 

Building an improved system that will generate more talent and result in a better record, thus increasing ticket sales.

you know this is wrong. Toboni was POBO Breslow's #2. He was in line to get the GM title. They basically hired a hot shot from one of the biggest organizations after they had a terrific development streak. It is a bump up, but that's what you do to get a guy like that

Yes, so Toboni was an Assistant GM and jumped all the way to POBO. No way hes making even the average of what a POBO makes in a real org

And the only reason Breslow was going to make him the GM was so another team couldn't.

[nobleisthyname]

Building an improved system that will generate more talent and result in a better record, thus increasing ticket sales.

This... seems like what we would want as fans, right? Not sure this is something to criticize ownership over.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

9 errors in 6 games.

was watching a Boston sports talk show last night and they were blasting the Red Sox for having the second most errors this year and 5 out of the last 6. Cora is thankful for the Nats.

Gallo, Smith save a bunch of these errors