Washington Nationals Boss Explains Surprise Decision Regarding the Coaching Staff
The rebuild is still firmly in place for the Washington Nationals as they failed to make the playoffs for the fifth year in a row, but this season might have been the most encouraging when analyzing who turned into impact players throughout this campaign.
Mackenzie Gore looks like a top-of-the-rotation guy for years to come and rookie DJ Herz projects to be one as well. Across their lineup, James Wood seems to be a future star alongside top prospect Dylan Crews and Luis Garcia Jr. And even though CJ Abram's season ended in some controversy when he was demoted, the youngster made his first All-Star Game and is slated to become a franchise cornerstone.
All of that makes missing out on the playoffs a bit more palatable knowing the arrow is pointing up when it comes to their future, but the question still remains if and when they will be able to compete in the NL East with the surging Philadelphia Phillies, dominant Atlanta Braves, and cash-heavy New York Mets.
Decisions general manager Mike Rizzo makes going forward will be extremely important when it comes to getting this team on the right path, and one of his first ones regarding the setup of this club was to retain the entire coaching staff.
This was announced back on Aug. 14 with plenty of games remaining that could have potentially changed things.
Manager Dave Martinez wanted his entire coaching staff back, and this was ultimately agreed to by Rizzo and signed off on by ownership.
Still, this choice was a bit surprising to some.
The Nationals GM explained his decision to reporters, saying, "I believe every one of those guys have earned the right to come back next year," per Mark Zuckerman of MASN.
Martinez was seen as someone who could be on the hot seat, but that never seemed like a change Rizzo was willing to make.
"I thought to be consistent, and keep the consistency in the coaches' room, was important. I watch, Davey watches, how these guys interact and work throughout the season. And believe me, these guys are as hard-working, as communicative, they teach as much as any group that we've had. To keep that cohesion going, and for the players to go into the offseason knowing who their coaches are going to be, so they can lean on (them) during the offseason, was important to me," the executive further explained.
Perhaps nobody wanted to go through the same thing that took place last winter.
Washington moved on from four coaches, hiring Miguel Cairo, Ricky Gutierrez, Gerardo Parra and Chris Johnson to take over the bench, first base, third base and assistant hitting coach roles respectively.
The idea of keeping everything the same when the core group of players are so young makes sense, but based on the virtually identical results this year compared to last, it could also be pointed out this might not be the group who can push the Nationals out of their rebuild.
Regardless, barring some sort of change in thinking, the same coaches will be back in Washington next season with the hope they can take that next step in 2025.
