Nationals' Firing of Resourceful GM Mike Rizzo Will Go Down as Big Mistake

The Washington Nationals made waves on Sunday when they announced the simultaneous firings of general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez.

The timing was particularly shocking for Rizzo, as the Nationals are set to make the first overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft in less than a week.

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While Rizzo and Martinez are taking the fall for a once-promising season that has gone sour quickly, the issues that have plagued this organization since its 2019 World Series championship go all the way to the top.

At ownership's directive, Rizzo and the front office went about slowly stripping down the aging, expensive World Series roster and moving in a younger, more affordable direction.

There are a couple lenses through which to view that decision and its results, but the biggest takeaway is that even if Washington's ownership group didn't have the best process in mind at the time, the decision has proven to be the right one.

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In the years since key players have moved on, the Nationals have not missed out on much by paying top dollar for the post-2021 careers of Trea Turner, Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon.

Only Turner is a consistent, quality player of that trio, and while he's been largely worth the contract given to him by the Philadelphia Phillies, he's not providing notable excess value.

That brings things back to Juan Soto, who certainly still is one of the very best players in all of MLB, but he too was shipped out of town as part of the teardown in 2022 when it became clear that there was not a long-term extension for him to be had with Washington.

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Ownership erred in not finding a way to keep Soto around, but Rizzo and his team made the best of a tough situation by making a deal that has aged stunningly well with the San Diego Padres.

Plenty of ink has been spilled over it by now, but for just a season and a half of control over Soto, Rizzo managed to completely reshape Washington's future by landing ace MacKenzie Gore, star outfielder James Wood, standout shortstop CJ Abrams and other promising prospects including outfielder Robert Hassell III for Soto.

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It's hard to think of a bleaker scenario for Nationals fans than having a front office that wouldn't take any offer for Soto until either the 2023 trade deadline, when the return would have been considerably less, or never doing it at all and losing him for nothing in free agency.

Rizzo had the foresight to do that, and the return he landed in the deal looks like it could be the foundation for the next generation of quality baseball in Washington.

He deserved the chance to see it through.

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