Mike Rizzo Takes Shot at Nationals Ownership Group After Surprise Firing

The Washington Nationals sent shockwaves through the MLB world on Sunday when they announced the firings of both general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez in one fell swoop.

The timing of the decision and announcement was peculiar, as the team is now six days away at the time of writing from making the first overall selection in the 2025 MLB draft.

That distinction applies more to Rizzo than it does to Martinez, since it's not unusual for a last-place team to fire a manager in July.

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Still, Rizzo built the team's only World Series championship team in 2019, and he's done well to replenish the their after moving on from the core players from that era in the years since.

He deserved more than an unceremonious dismissal in the middle of a tough season.

Reading between the lines of his response in the wake of the announcement, it's not hard to see he probably felt the same way.

Rizzo provided a comment via text message to Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post (subscription required) Sunday after the announcement, and though he handled it with class, something did stick out.

"The sun will come up tomorrow," Rizzo said in the text message. "That's the job. I had a great run. Navigated that ownership group for almost 20 years."

The Nationals' ownership group, led by principal owner Mark Lerner, has come under fire in recent years for the decision to rapidly shed payroll in the seasons following the World Series championship.

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The 2021 and 2022 campaigns saw a mass exodus of talent and salary from the Washington organization, and it's clear to most that Rizzo actually did a phenomenal job of maximizing the return.

It's rare that such directives end with a pool of young talent that rivals what the Nationals have with MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Keibert Ruiz, Robert Hassell III and some of the other pieces the organization has because of Rizzo's work.

Though he's certainly not deserving of all of the credit for their development, Abrams and especially Wood have taken leaps toward superstardom under Martinez's watch.

The fact that Rizzo felt compelled to use the word "navigated" to describe the 20-year working relationship he had with the organization suggests that he, like the fans, had some level of discontentment with the way decisions had been made or communicated in recent years.

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In the team's statement announcing the moves, Lerner was quick to praise Rizzo for his contributions.

“When our family assumed control of the team, nearly 20 years ago, Mike was the first hire we made," Lerner said. "Over two decades, he was with us as we went from a fledging team in a new city to World Series champions. He played an instrumental role in leading the transformation of our farm system and building a roster that reached an unprecedented level of organizational success."

Now, Lerner and the ownership group will have to hope they can find a new voice to connect with the young players that will define the next decade of Nationals baseball, and a new front office that can supplement them with the pieces needed to contend once again.

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