Looks like congrats are in order for Jim Riggleman. Being willing to work for less money than any of the other candidates once again turns out to be the winning strategy to winning a job with the Nats.

www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/chatter/2009/nov/03/mattingly-out-of-the-running/

"Washington ownership also is reluctant to spend top dollar on its manager, according to club sources, which would likely eliminate any high-profile candidates like Bobby Valentine or Buck Showalter, despite interest from both former managers in the job."

"Washington ownership also is reluctant to spend top dollar on its manager, according to club sources, which would likely eliminate any high-profile candidates like Bobby Valentine or Buck Showalter, despite interest from both former managers in the job."

"Washington ownership also is reluctant to spend top dollar on its manager, according to club sources, which would likely eliminate any high-profile candidates like Bobby Valentine or Buck Showalter, despite interest from both former managers in the job."

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Edited 11/3/2009 6:49 pm ET by PowerBoater69

Rizzo said he wants a manager who has managed before, either in the Majors or minors. Mattingly's NEVER been a manager.

So what if the Lerners don't want to pay $3 million or so per year for their skipper? Showalter gets fired shortly after taking jobs (see the Yankees and Diamondbacks) and Valentine is a blowhard.

Better to have a more businesslike detail-oriented person at the helm like Riggleman or Melvin.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$ are the 1st, 2nd, and last factors in any decision made by old man Lerner. In leaking the inside info to the Washington Times his own employees are showing that they are sick enough of this act to the point that they are ratting him out to the press.

Anyone who believes that Lerner would risk his guaranteed profit margin to improve the team is a fool.

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Edited 11/3/2009 7:41 pm ET by PowerBoater69

Nobody knows who these sources may be. For all anyone knows..and that is the point----no one knows who they are or what motivation they have to "leak" information, true or false information.

Regardless of whose guess is correct if the end result is Riggelman next year then that is the best choice. He works well with the core of this team. This team doesn't need another first year manager, especially one with a big ticket salary. All the others are retreads a couple times over and complete shots in the dark whether they succeed..

Maybe they are saving $$$ for big free agent splashes.................yeah right...........when I fly

This was my favorite quote in the article.

"Within the Nationals organization, the move seems to be toward the status quo"

That seems to pertain to EVERY aspect of this organization, not just the manager's job. Looks like another 100 losses coming up.

As a fan, it really is kind of sad that we all know that the minimum will always be done...for the least amount of money..
How long before we EXPECT no less than .500 ball???

Will we ever even get to a point when the Nats are contenders??

Under the Lerners..I am seriously looking for a reason to believe...

I feel an off season rant brewing...LOL

Let's see what cooks on the hot stove..

Have a good evening all..

Riggs is fine by me. I just hope they spend the saved money to acquire some real players. No more Dcabs and Tavarez type pickups.

So.....what's it like still living in your mom's house?

No more Dcabs and Tavarez type pickups. "

YEah, spend wisely. No more" Bowden bucks" tossed around.

Ouch! Perhaps I should send PB69 some ice for those two black eyes. ;-)

>>"So.....what's it like still living in your mom's house?"

I was wondering if he forgot who he logged-on as and he thought he was using one of his Marion Barry/Zimm profiles.

One last Bowden remnant in Guzman and we are free. I know we have a few arb elig guys like the Hammer who will be getting big raises but it is offset from the huge dumping of Kearns, Johnson, and Dimitri's salaries. Combined they made nearly 20 mil. That's a significant budget we can work with.

Don't forget about WMP, Belliard, and Biemel coming off the books. I think Boz wrote that the Nats are shedding $30 million in payroll. In addition, Guz only has only one year left on his contract so theoretically Rizzo should be able to sign players to contracts that balloon up in 2011 assuming ownership has placed a salary cap for 2010. But based on how Lerner has penny pinched the search for someone to lead this team I see no reason to believe that we will see any significant difference in how they go about signing free agents.

Sure looks like Lerner has made fools out of the Kool-Aid Club, maybe we should now call it the Fool-Aid Gang. I even conditionally joined the KAC back in the heady days of December 2007 when we all expected to rocket past the 82 win mark in '08. You had some predictions that are fairly amusing in hindsight.

www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-washington&tid=23413

I think Riggleman is a pretty solid baseball man. For me it would boil down to this: can I find somebody significantly better at the job. I haven't heard any names mentioned that I would consider materially superior to Jim Riggleman as a manager. He can do the job. He has done the job. And he really wants the job. So, if it ain't broke, why fix it? I felt that way about Manny, too.

Go Jim Riggleman!
Go Nats!

This winter is critical for the franchise because I don't think the franchise can take three 100 consecutive loss seasons. Acta Riggs Melvin won't make an iota of a difference unless they get them the horses. If they do a Scroogetype FA winter then I wonder how many will turn out next year? Will it be a buyers' market and can the Nats get the bang for the buck? We will see but if they don't do much about the pitching via FA or trade then the franchise is in serious trouble!

Nothing against Riggleman, but I'd feel a lot better if we had Bobby Valentine. He has a proven track record with a pennant in Queens, and a Japan Series trophy in Saitama with the Seibu Lions. (Seibu is the name of the corporation that owns the team.) Yes, the manager needs players, but if the Lerners aren't willing to look for other managers simply because Riggleman would accept less money, I don't like the message that sends. Signing somebody like Bobby Valentine WOULD send a message to fans.

The FO certainly aren't going out of their way to disspell the cheap image. Valentine made something like 4 mil in Japan but a homediscount of 1 mil per year won't bring any name managers to the franchise. If they insist on less than a mil then Riggs is their man! Again if they use the 3 mil saved from hiring Riggs I certainly hope that goes to getting us some pitchers instead of going into their pocketbook!

Established managers like Valentine ain't lookin at the lowly Nats for any amount of money