25
2011
Nationals To Name Davey Johnson Manager
An article by 
ESPN reports that the Washington Nationals will name Davey Johnson as their new manager, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Johnson, 68, will manage the team for the rest of the season and next season, subject to league approval.
He has been a senior adviser for that ballclub since 2006, and last managed in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
I wonder why Johnson was never considered by the Mets when they were interviewing candidates?
It would have been great with the 25 year anniversary of the 1986 Mets this season. I guess the Mets can scratch him off the guest list when they celebrate the anniversary later this season.
Original Post
Nationals manager Jim Riggleman resigned today following today’s walk-off win against the Mariners, the second NL East manager to step down this week.
Riggleman was growing increasingly frustrated that the Nationals had not shown any interest in picking up his option for 2012. He was seemingly taking it personally and it was “eating away at him”.
“I’m 58. I’m too old to be disrespected”, said Riggleman.
The Nationals are in third place in the NL East with a 38-37 record on the season. There has not been an official interim manager named, though presumably it will be bench coach John McLaren.
Ironically enough, as Gary Cohen mentioned on SNY, Riggleman replaced McLaren as manager in Seattle when McLaren was fired, now it is very likely to be vice-versa with the Nationals.
Riggleman is now the second NL East manger to resign from their role in the past four days. Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez stepped down Monday and was replaced by 80-year old Jack McKeon.
This recent news is also an accomplishment for Terry Collins 
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About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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And yet this guy could not wait until September to resign. Atleast Terry Collins has something to be happy about.
Apparently he contacted Rizzo and said he wanted to talk about it before the White Sox series which is tomorrow. Rizzo wasn’t interested so he offered his resignation, which Rizzo accepted.
yet ripped him saying he was “thinking of himself and not the team”.. well of course, he’s 58 years old, how many chances will he get? not many i tell you that, i’m on riggleman side here, sometimes do what’s best for you, not the POS nationals!!
Why are we talking about the Nationals Manager and GM? I thought we were supposed to only talk about the Mets here.
I think this was a no class move by Riggleman and I hope he never gets the opportunity to mage again. Managing in the major leagues is a priveledge and there are only 30 spots, Riggleman let his greed and pride get in the way of finishing the job he started this season. His players deserve a bigger man and a better manager.
He is a great manager, but the thing that baffles me is that they were actually playing well. They have such a bright future ahead and I think he would have become their first “great” manager for the Nats.
He has the potential to become a great manager and this Nats club could have been his shining moment. But he came off a bit paranoid in my opinion.
The writing was on the wall for Riggleman. The Nats had no future plans to bring him back beyond 2011. Can’t fault the guy for taking a stand, showing the Nats possibly what they’re missing out on. They were looking for a more higher profile guy and have some in mind, and it was pre-determined already. I’ll be shocked if someone who doesn’t have a big time name isn’t in DC.
How can you call Jim Riggleman a great manager? He is barely a good manager. Just because he used advanced statistics to manage and create his lineups, he has been far from good. As an example lets look at how he stacks up with Jerry Manuel.
In 12 years of managing with four diffrent teams, as of today Riggleman won 661 games with a .445 winning percentage. His average finish in the standings was 4.3 place.
In 9 years of managing with two different teams, Manuel won 704 games with a .504 winning percentage. His average finish in the standings was 2.4 place.
Manuel won 43 more games than Riggleman in 95 less games.
Would you call Jerry Manuel great?
I know it’s so trendy to have these new advanced stats managers who do everything by the odss and the percentages, but I’m content with a guy like Terry Collins who still makes gut calls and manages for the situation.
Riggleman for most of his career has not had the best teams to work with. He had the ’08 Mariners, The early 90′s Padres. and the Nationals. The only time he managed a good team was part of his tenure with the Cubs, where he brought them to the postseason.
Joe Torre was considered “clueless Joe” until he was blessed with managing one of the greatest dynasties in all of baseball history.
Riggleman is a good team away from becoming “that guy”. What was stupid of him was that it could have been these Nationals but he bailed because of his option
I understand to an extent Riggleman wanting to deal with his option and all but it’s called an option for a reason.
The team has the option to pick it up or not. I don’t know if the option was for more than 2012 or not but assuming it was just a 1 year option what if they did pick up his option for 2012? Next year he would be right back managing but this time with no option beyond 2012. What was he going to do next year? Quit cause he now wanted a extension before the end of the season?
I just think there has to be more we don’t know cause to quit midseason like he did on the basis he did just doesnt seem like the professional way to go about it.
I would think he would just finish his season he agreed to already contractually and move on at the end. Heck he was half way through already.
Jim made a horrible career mistake here and will probably regret it. You stay and fufill your contract end of story.
What a loser!
What about when managers get fired in the middle of a season? Are we OK with that?
sure, that is different. The team still has to pay them.
You are really a strange bird. No matter what the issue is, you can always be counted on to taked the extreme, outlandish, and anti-majority side. I’m starting to think you’re just an act that does this for attention. So now firing a bad underperforming manager in midseason is the same as a manager just up and leaving in the middle of a contract and leaving his players hanging?
The employer always has the right to fire a terrible manager. And a manger has the right to quit. But in Riggleman’s case he left because he wanted the team to pick up his option. IT’S AN OPTION! HE SIGNED THE DEAL THAT WAY!
IF HE WANTED A GUARANTEED 2-YEAR DEAL THAN HE SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID YES TO THIS DEAL!
“You are really a strange bird. No matter what the issue is, you can always be counted on to taked the extreme, outlandish, and anti-majority side.”
Extreme? Outlandish? Why don’t you go look those words up and get back to me?
“So now firing a bad underperforming manager in midseason is the same as a manager just up and leaving in the middle of a contract and leaving his players hanging?”
No, I’m asking if it’s different. any actually gave a reasonable reply.
“The employer always has the right to fire a terrible manager. And a manger has the right to quit. But in Riggleman’s case he left because he wanted the team to pick up his option. IT’S AN OPTION! HE SIGNED THE DEAL THAT WAY!”
So, the employer can break the deal when it turns unfavorable to them, but the employee can’t?
“IF HE WANTED A GUARANTEED 2-YEAR DEAL THAN HE SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID YES TO THIS DEAL!”
He was trying to get a better deal and was completely stone walled by his bosses. Not denied, they even refused to see him.
So Donal is extreme, outlandish and anti majority because he thinks Riggelman has the right to some sort of job security?
He actually didn’t leave because they wouldn’t pick up his option. He left because they wouldn’t even TALK to him about it. There’s a difference. One is respectful, the other is not.
Are you telling me that if you went to work every day and knew there may be changes in the company soon and your employer REFUSED to talk to you about whether you’ll have a job that you’d stay?
Riggelman was a filler Manager, somebody who isn’t flashy and can fill a uniform for the team while they wait for their big splash with Stras/Harper etc. They clearly had no intention of bringing him back in 2012.
jesseOdesta,
you seem to have a complacent with what’s given to you and say thank you, you gotta be good at what you do, have leverage and be a shark about certain things.. i am glad he quit..
wins aren’t the best way to say a manager is good or bad. too heavily dependant on the talent on the roster.
every team is probably going to win a certain # of games and lose a certain # each year, whether the best manager ever or some random guy plucked out of the stands manages those games. It is what the manager does in the rest of the games that decides if he is good or bad, and that has to be a subjective evaluation for team management (GM, etc).
But, the floor number is going to be higher for some teams, so winning 80 with the Pirates is more impressive than winning 90 with the Phils.
is tony pena a good manager?? is manny acta a good manager??
When all the yahoos were screaming the Mets should bring back Bobby V., I was screaming that the Mets should bring back Davey Johnson. Davey is the only man alive on the face of the earth who won a World Series as Mets manager! I doubt Davey is into managing at teh big league level anymore, but it would have been great if he had one more go around with the Mets.
You weren’t the only one Gregga…Not sure why Bobby V gets all the love and is talked about like he was the greatest manager the Mets ever had…
Look up Davey Johnson’s managerial stats, they are extremely impressive. 14 years, 1 or 2nd 12 of those years. He’s pretty much won everywhere he’s been.
Terry Collins has done a fine job this year, but I still wish we would’ve at least talked to Davey when we were looking at managers…
“It would have been great with the 25 year anniversary of the 1986 Mets this season. I guess the Mets can scratch him off the guest list when they celebrate the anniversary later this season.”
Why would he show up to the 25th anniversary when he didn’t even bother to show up to celebrate the 20th anniversary? Doesn’t the Wilpons hate Davey? Maybe that’s why he was never considered.
Good luck to Davey…just not against us.
However, he did show up last year when he was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame.