Riggleman: Did He Jump or Was He Pushed?

Minutes after a walk-off sacrifice fly victory over the Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman resigned from his post citing contract issues. The news came as a shock to everyone close to the organization, as the Nats are currently an above .500 baseball team under Riggleman's leadership in 2011. Nevertheless, the stalemate over the issue of Riggleman's employment with him and General Manager Mike Rizzo forced Jim Riggleman to resign. Bench boss John McLaren will become the interim manager until the Nationals find a permanent replacement.

Both sides of the argument already have different interpretations of the event. This is how GM Rizzo announced to the media Riggleman stepped down.



Outgoing manager Jim Riggleman fielded the questions this way:



The frustration concerning the current fallout on both the faces of GM Mike Rizzo and the outgoing Jim Riggleman. Mike Rizzo looks more displeased with Riggleman citing numerous occasions during the season in which he demanded Rizzo to pick up the option year in his contract for 2012. However, when asked about those conversations with GM Mike Rizzo, a sombre Jim Riggleman explained how he needed to sit down with the general manager, and have a "conversation" or dialogue about the contract issue.

Contracts take time to prepare and mediate, and to stop an employer in the hallway and make demands does not sound like good business sense. I have more faith in Riggleman's answer because having a sit down to negotiate options or a new contract would seem the logical thing to do. GM Mike Rizzo knew where those conversations would lead, and when Riggleman resigned Rizzo offered up the failure to take up the option "that morning" as the reason for Jim Riggleman leaving the club. Rizzo does have the right to feel upset about the situation because the decision came down that day, and there was not enough time for public relations to put the proper perspectives on the situation. This author feels if given more than enough time to prepare an adequate statement for the media, the current situation need not have unfolded in this way.

On a sidenote, Washington should never wear that jersey with that hat on the road! The red is too bright to be worn with road greys. The Nats wore this awful arrangement one Sunday against the San Diego Padres a couple of weeks ago. What happened to the road uniform with the "Washington" script; they shrank at the dry cleaners? Fashion faux pas!