Washington Nationals Skipper Listed as Someone Who is Firmly on Hot Seat
It feels like a long time ago the Washington Nationals were celebrating winning their first World Series title.
That's because in sports, five years is a long time.
The Nationals have undergone tons of changes to their roster since that point, opting to start a rebuild when they couldn't defend their championship in 2020. Patrick Corbin is the only holdover from the 2019 team still playing for this franchise as they saw some of their players retire and leave in free agency, before shipping out the rest in trades.
Besides the struggling starting pitcher, the other member from that time period still in the clubhouse is manager Dave Martinez.
Hired in 2018 to replace Dusty Baker, the first-time skipper finished his debut season above .500 before leading Washington on their magical World Series run the following year.
But since then, Martinez has yet to post a winning season.
A lot of that isn't his fault since he's been tasked with presiding over this rebuild, but the fact the Nationals are likely to finish under .500 for the fifth campaign in a row is a reason why Brandon Scott of Bleacher Report thinks he's on the hot seat.
"It's worth asking how long a struggling manager can live off winning the World Series ... He signed a two-year contract extension last August, but it's worth the Nationals considering whether the 59-year-old should usher them into a new era or if they prefer to rip off the band aid instead of what could be a lame-duck season for him in 2025," he writes when ranking him third on his list of managers most likely to get fired.
Again, it's difficult to firmly point the finger at Martinez as the reason why Washington hasn't been winning.
Any organization, no matter who they are, will struggle when they trade away the likes of Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer and others to get prospects in return.
The Nationals knew they would go through a prolonged stretch of losing while they waited for their young stars to blossom into Major League contributors, something that is happening right now.
The only question regarding the status of Martinez is if Washington thinks he's the right man to lead this group to prominence just like he did back in 2019.
If they believe he can do that, then his job is safe for the length of the extension he signed.
BRAD WAKAI