With a 26-61 record over the first half of the season, the Washington Nationals have decided to part ways with manager Manny Acta. The club anointed bench coach Jim Riggleman as the interim manager for the rest of the season.
The Nationals organization gambled in 2007 by hiring a young coach (Acta was 38 then) to manage a young team. Acta seemed to be well liked by his players and peers, but you can’t have a manager learning on the job at the same time young players are trying to develop in the big leagues.
Acta didn’t have the best talent to work with in Washington, nor did he have the greatest front office to support him. But he still deserves a ton of the blame for his eventual demise, so nobody should go on believing that he got a raw deal here.
The Nationals do have a ton of young talent (with more on the way with Stephen Strasburg on the fast track to the big leagues), but they’re going to need to find the right fit at manager. Who that person is, I don’t know. But it has to be someone with the right balance of experience and exuberance, because this young team will wear on a manager’s nerves. Maybe somebody like Joe Giriardi after the Yankees impatiently fire him at the end of the season for not going to the playoffs?
