Lerner named a successor for Rizzo, assistant GM Mike DeBartolo, but held off announcing Martinez\u2019s replacement until Monday. Bench coach Miguel Cairo and Triple-A manager Matthew LeCroy would appear the most logical candidates.<\/p>\n
If Lerner and company were desperate to draw attention away from themselves, a theory advanced by one former team executive, they sure had an odd way of going about it.<\/p>\n
Not that Rizzo, the game\u2019s second-longest tenured head of baseball operations, and Martinez, the manager who led the franchise to its only World Series title in 2019, necessarily deserved to keep their jobs. The Nationals\u2019 37-53 record is the fourth worst in the majors. More telling, the Nats since 2019 rank second in the majors in losses, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n
True, ownership needed to decide this month on 2026 options for both Rizzo and Martinez. But general managers almost never get fired before the deadline. The last time it happened, as far as I can tell, was when the Minnesota Twins dumped Terry Ryan on July 18, 2016.<\/p>\n
Ryan, at least, got to oversee the Twins\u2019 draft that year. In 2021, the draft moved from June to July. So in dumping Rizzo, the Nationals are leaving both the draft and deadline to DeBartolo, the new interim GM.<\/p>\n
The No. 1 pick, as the Nationals know well from their selections of Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010, is a monumental opportunity for any franchise. By now, the draft boards of most teams are in relative order. But picking first isn\u2019t always about simply choosing the best fit for an organization. Teams sometimes operate strategically, signing a player for less to spread bonus pool money to other talents in later rounds. That strategy might make particular sense this year, with no clear No. 1 pick emerging.<\/p>\n
The deadline, for the Nats, is perhaps less meaningful \u2014 they do not figure to be terribly active. Among their players on expiring contracts, reliever Kyle Finnegan is perhaps their most attractive chip. Right-hander Mike Soroka has a 5.40 ERA. Infielders Amed Rosario and Paul DeJong, if moved, wouldn\u2019t figure to bring back much.<\/p>\n
Rizzo, of course, made one of the best deadline trades in recent memory in 2022, acquiring two players who were named National League All-Stars on Sunday, left-hander MacKenzie Gore and left fielder James Wood, as well as a third who was a strong candidate to make the team, shortstop CJ Abrams.<\/p>\n
That deal, as I wrote on May 27,<\/a> could mask only so much. The Nationals\u2019 failures in player development, as well as in amateur and international scouting, go back more than a decade. Rizzo made changes to scouting and player development at the end of 2023. But they might have been too little, too late.<\/p>\n Lerner, in announcing the moves Sunday, resorted to standard ownership speak, citing a need for a \u201cfresh approach and new energy.\u201d Which, in a vacuum, is not an unfair analysis. But ownership previously extended Rizzo on several occasions, in part because it could not seem to imagine anyone else leading the organization.<\/p>\n All-Star pitcher MacKenzie Gore\u2019s future in Washington will now be the responsibility of interim general manager Mike DeBartolo. (Rafael Suanes \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n If anything, the dismissal of Martinez was more surprising. As The Athletic\u2019s Britt Ghiroli wrote last month<\/a>, Martinez was well-liked by ownership. He signed his last contract before Rizzo agreed to his.<\/p>\n Perhaps ownership decided it had enough of Rizzo\u2019s strong personality. And perhaps Martinez\u2019s comments after a loss to the Miami Marlins on June 14 marked a turning point in how ownership viewed him.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to finger-point here and say it\u2019s on the coaches. It\u2019s never on the coaches,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to put the onus on the players, they\u2019ve got to go out there and they\u2019ve got to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinez later backtracked, saying of his players, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t on them. My comments (were) nothing about them. They know that.\u201d But it\u2019s never a good look when a manager blames his players.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26576373-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n