Davey Martinez passionately defends coaches amid Nationals’ brutal slump

What is wrong with the Washington Nationals? Is it their lack of hitting, both for power and for average? Or maybe their shaky pitching, which was once a strength of the team?

Well, while that conversation can be discussed in a number of ways, in the opinion of manager Davey Martinez, the one area of the team that is blameless is coaching, with the skipper delivering a passionate defense of his staff for getting their players ready to play every single day even during a seven-game losing streak.

“It’s never on coaching, never on coaching, okay? Coaches work their a**es off every single day. We’re not going to finger-point here and say it’s coaches. It’s never on the coaches, okay? They work hard. The message is clear. All the work is done prior,” Martinez declared.

“So sometimes, you know, they got to go out there and they got to play the game. It’s always been about the players, always, you know? I played this game a long time. Never once have I blamed the coach for anything. I mean, we worked our a**es off to get better. They gave us information, and we used it. You know, so these guys understand what the game is.”

Interesting stuff, right? Well Martinez had plenty more to say on the subject, noting that he and his Nationals coaches can’t throw, hit, or catch the ball for their players.

“Man, these coaches, I never had such a group of coaches that worked as hard as they do. I mean, they’re here every freaking day. They go over everything. They sit with players every day. These coaches, you know, they work their a**es off. And I know every coach’s staff is like that,” Martinez said.

“So sometimes, you know, and the players don’t. Sometimes, you know, you got to put the onus on the players. They got to go out there, and they got to play the game and play the game the right way. You know, we can’t hit for them. We can’t catch the ball for them. We can’t pitch for them. We can’t throw strikes for them. They got to do that.”

Does Martinez technically have a point? On a purely semantic basis, yes he does, but that simply isn’t how professional sports work. While players can absolutely underperform versus expectations, skippers are tasked with getting the best from their players and often are relieved of their duties if they can’t accomplish that feat. If the Nationals can’t turn things around in a hurry, Martinez may have to answer some tough questions of his own as well.