OPINION:
For those of you who might be wondering out there, Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo thinks his manager, Dave Martinez, is doing a fine job.
He thinks Martinez is handling the team — with its 49-49 record after Sunday’s series finale victory over Atlanta — well. And, he thinks Martinez did a good job handling the dugout debate caught on camera Friday night between Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer.
I know you are wondering about the manager — a lot. After all, you were told the World Series was this team’s goal — over and over again — when the Nationals did not bring Dusty Baker back after winning the National League East for consecutive seasons and hired rookie manager Martinez.
It would be reasonable for Nationals fans to be frustrated about how far they are from that goal.
According to Rizzo, Scherzer and Strasburg are frustrated as well. The difference is, instead of screaming at the television or your buddy in the stands at Nationals Park, Scherzer and Strasburg yelled at each other.
When Strasburg walked off the mound in the fifth inning Friday night in a 6-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves and into the Nationals dugout, Scherzer gave him a pat on the left shoulder. Strasburg sat down on the bench and had words with Scherzer. Strasburg then got up and angrily headed down the runway toward the clubhouse, with Scherzer behind him.
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When everyone saw that, they likely concluded that if they are frustrated, then things are really bad.
But Rizzo said he believes that Martinez, hired after three seasons as Joe Maddon’s bench coach in Chicago and after being passed over for numerous other managerial openings, is still up to the task.
“I think he (Martinez) has been doing great,” Rizzo said. “He is an upbeat personality, he communicates with the players as good or better than any manager we’ve had here, and we’ve had some great ones. I think he handles his staff well, I think he runs a great game and I think he does a wonderful job.”
When two of your star players publicly — that’s $385 million going at it — and demonstrably argue while the team is sinking in the NL East, it should result in a state-of-the-team comment from the general manager, even if he thinks this was a “media event” and “much ado about nothing.”
Listen, in today’s social media age, media events are real events. They can’t be separated from the team and the play on the field. And they can be powerfully damaging.
Like Rizzo said, you can’t let these things fester.
“It was much ado about nothing,” Rizzo said. “It was something that happens about 25 times in a season, usually not in the view of the public. They had a great conversation when they sat down and talked about it with Davey after the game. Everybody is certainly on board.
“These guys know each other well,” he said. “They have the same agent (Scott Boras). They work out together in the winter. They are probably as close teammates as there is. Pent up frustration, two competitive guys, and sometimes that is what happens.”
“I think Davey handled it perfectly,” Rizzo said.
After the game, Strasburg, making his first start coming off a month-long stay on the disabled list, told reporters who asked about the argument, “You’ve got to be in the (Nationals) family. You’re not.”
Rizzo liked that answer.
“It’s a media event,” he said. “People make what they will about it. I thought Stras said it perfectly. We are together seven months of the year. We are a family. You fight with your family and argue, we do the same thing here. At the end of the day, if it is for the greater good of the team, those are healthy communications.”
We’ll see how healthy it is if the team continues to struggle.
The Nationals have never been a team fueled by emotions, positive or negative ones. Their success has been based on talent and talent alone. They’ve never fought their way to success, against themselves or their opponents.
Now, though, may be the time to fight — even if it is with each other.
⦁ Thom Loverro’s weekly “Cigars & Curveballs” is available Wednesdays on iTunes, Google Play and the reVolver podcast network.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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