This makes sense.  

A no-drama, results-oriented GM choosing a no-drama manager who, when given the chance, improved a bad team.  There really isn't much more than that to explain Mike Rizzo's decision to hire Jim Riggleman as the permanent manager.  

For the Nats, bombastic personalities whose record never matches up to their rhetoric went out the door with Jim Bowden.  And we should view Bobby Valentine in the same category.  A .510 winning percentage for a guy who hasn't managed in MLB since 2002 simply is not enough to overcome the combustable personality that is Bobby V.  

Given the opportunity to snatch Valentine for 2010, the Indians and Astros passed.  And so did the Nats.  I'd call that a trend.

And so we're left with Riz and Rigs.  I'm ok with that.

      

So, you do battle with the toughest agent in baseball.  People tell you that the future of the franchise hinges on you closing the deal.  Then you not only snag the agent's player, you do it with a lower-than-expected contract offer.  

And your title still reads, "acting."  Gimme a break.  

On the job only since March, Mike Rizzo has cleaned up Jim Bowden's mess faster than Mr. Clean. Transformed a dysfunctional line-up into one where 1-5 is now about as good as it gets.  Pulled off the trade of the year. Got rid of bad apples, head cases and hideous performers.  Brought in a new coaching staff.  Piece-by-piece replaced the entire bullpen which had 20 blown saves before the All-Star break and just 2 since then.   

Rizzo slammed the door on decisions that Bowden liked to leave open.  Adam Dunn belongs at 1B.  Good-bye Nick Johnson.  Josh Willingham belongs as a starting corner outfielder.  Good-bye Austin Kearns.  Elijah Dukes better fulfill his potential soon.  Hello AAA assignment.  

The net effect of these and other moves?  The Nats have gone from being on pace to dislodge the 1962 Mets as the team with the worst record ever to, now, a respectable team with a winning record since the All-Star break.

That change has occurred, to a large degree, because Rizzo has never acted like an interim GM. Instead, he has seized the opportunity to reshape the team while tolerating the embarrassment of a public search for the job he is currently performing, complete with rumors that he is not the front-runner.  

Both classy and effective.  That's been Mike Rizzo as the Nats GM.  And he deserves the permanent job.

Update -- Yahoo Sports is reporting that Rizzo will not get the job.

      

I come home from vacation and see that the Nats have changed personnel a bit.  Nick Johnson, gone.  We'll miss him, but it makes sense.  Joe Beimel, gone.  Loved the hair, but makes even more sense.  But wait, who is this general manager declaring, "We are not tearing this thing down to the foundation and re-building...this is a team that is not far away from being a good, solid baseball team"?

Huh?  I feel like the AFLAC duck shaking his head to Yogi Berra's nonsense.  And I'm wondering: has Jim Bowden taken over the body and mind of Mike Rizzo?

Not far away?  To believe that, you have to think that the team is set in the reconfigured outfield (Willingham, Morgan, Dukes), corner infielders (Zim, Dunn) and catcher (Flores), and that a couple of the young arms (pick 'em) will stick in the rotation with Lannan.  You just have to solve for middle infield, adjust a couple contracts (Dunn, Willingham) to stay around a while longer, and sign Strasburg.  

What's wrong with this view?  It assumes a Bowden-like belief that prospects (any of the pitchers) and projects (Dukes) are poised to fulfill their potential tomorrow...that Dunn doesn't give away more runs at 1B than he creates at the bat, and he extends his contract beyond next year...that Jesus Flores can actually play a full season without getting injured...and that the Lerners will pay a draft pick the most money ever.

That's a lot of if's.  And you haven't even addressed 2B and SS.  

Now, it's possible that all these things will come true.  As a fan, I sure hope they do.  But I'd rather wait for some evidence of that before declaring that the Nats are ready to challenge the Phillies.  

As I've written before, I think Rizzo should be the permanent GM.  His early prediction of looming bullpen disasters and his trades like that for Nyjer Morgan have been spot on.  And he has demonstrated a level-headedness not found in predecessor and some of his current bosses.  But when quotes like "not far away" come from Rizzo, I begin to think it has been Mike, rather than me, who's been spending too much time in the sun.

      

Firing Manny Acta probably was the right move.  But we shouldn't lose sight of who the real bad actor is: ex(iled) GM Jim Bowden.  On the promise of baseball in Washington, never has one person done so much to destroy the aspirations of so many. 

Over the past five years, he had stocked the Nationals with players who, almost uniformly, were complete duds.  Lest we remember the Cincinatti pipeline filled with sludge (Lopez, Kearns, Pena, etc.).  The people of appalling character (Guilen, Dukes, Young).  The bizarre stunt of hosting tryouts during Spring Training for EVERY position in the starting rotation.  Or putting six corner outfielders on this year's roster -- including a few best suited for DH but none qualified for CF -- and extending the competition into the season.  

The results this year:  An embarrassment of historic proportions.  The most losses in the majors.  The most number of errors committed.  The worst ERA.  And scores of fans who feel cheated for giving the team their dollars and their loyalty.

Unfortunately, dismantling Bowden's bone-headed moves will require many more changes than the field manager. Here, you've got to give Mike Rizzo credit.  He spotted the complete absence of the bullpen, but by the time he got the GM job (well, sort of) it was almost too late to do much about it.  He saw Dukes and Milledge for what they were -- minor leaguers whose characters have been toxic in the clubhouse -- and sent them packing.  And he saw Daniel Cabrera as emblematic of a never was/never will be rotation, and declared that it's time to go with the young guns.  

But more changes will be needed to fully unwind Bowden's Washington Generals.  A lot more changes.  

So as we debate the dismissal of a manager short on emo but long on class, let's keep the big picture in mind: No one could have won with this group.  

      

We went up to Baltimore Saturday night to see the Nats play the O's.  And the two franchises could not be more different.  A team filled with young, promising players.  A superior ballpark experience.  And a big crowd not driven by fans of the other team.  All this describes the Baltimore Orioles, circa 2009.

You would think that, several years into a franchise, we would be describing the Nats this way.  But instead, they seem to be going in the opposite direction.  While the O's are building around position players like Markakis, Roberts, Jones, Wieters and Reimold, the Nats likely will have to blow up their current line-up (again) to get better defensively.  Camden Yards remains one of the best ballparks, filled with character (the warehouse) and easily accessible to the Inner Harbor.  In contrast, the Nats' park seems antiseptic, devoid of any defining feature other than a Capitol view that's been obstructed by that stupid red tent.  

But what impressed me the most last night was the crowd.  Not only was it big (40,000), most were there way early.  We got to the park an hour before the game, and Eutaw Street was already packed.  When the P.A. guy announced the starting line-ups, almost everyone was in their seats, wearing their Markakis shirts and cheering at the names of the individual O's. That has never happened in D.C.  Even the music choices seemed smart: Michael Jackson's "Beat It" when the O's took the field; the Beatles "Help" when the O's went to the bullpen.  In Washington, we get Clint.

Baltimore's renaissance is largely due to a solid baseball executive, Andy MacPhail, who traded smartly and drafted well.  In Washington, Jim Bowden's decisions have utterly wasted the Nats' first five years.  Earlier this week, Stan Kasten described himself as "the village idiot."  But it's going to require a big injection of intelligence to rescue this franchise.   

      

Ah, here we are on the eve of the 2009 season for Major League Baseball, which I keep telling my friends includes the Washington Nationals.  But before we re-join The 9,000 Club of MASN viewers, let's ask, "What did we learn from Spring Training?"

Here are five things that I learned.  Feel free to add yours in the comments section.

1 -- Spring Training is way too long.  From Valentine's Day to April Fool's Day...and beyond...is absurd.  I know that ST was purposely long this year because of the World Baseball Classic, but seven weeks to get ready for a six-month season is out of whack.  It's like the baseball gods were saying to us, "Ready, set, set, set..."  How about all future STs begin on March 1 and end on April 1? 

2 -- The WBC is just plain unworkable.  Let's face it, there is no good time for this thing.  Americans don't care.  MLB players make too much money to risk injury.  And MLB owners don't really want their players to go.  The best part of the WBC?  Seeing the hitting prowess of the Nat's new addition, Adam Dunn.  Unfortunately, we saw his fielding prowess, too.  Gulp!

3 -- Jim Bowden is no longer the Nats' GM.  How he departed reminds me of the old Richard Thompson song, "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?"  Doesn't matter; the result is the same.  From here, the drama level in the front office can only go down and the quality of on-field play go up.  Now, that's change we can believe in!

4 -- Josh Willingham got screwed.  Remember last fall when the Nats traded for Josh and annointed him as the new starting left-fielder?  Then Dunn came along and was handed that job.  Now Josh is riding the bench and none too pleased about it.  Here's hoping his fortunes turn around.

5 -- Young guys rule.  With four of five starting pitchers under 25, including two rookies, this is going to be a high-wire act where we don't look down and pray for the best.  Let's hope Mike Rizzo knows what he's doing. 

Bonus Pick -- Stephen Strasburg is God's gift to bloggers.  The college pitching phenom wasn't even in ST, and still dominated chatter about the Nats.  Will they draft him with the #1 pick and will he sign? The opening bids: Boros/Strasburg, $50 million; Kasten/Lerners, $10 million.  Let the games begin!  

And by that, I don't mean just bargaining for future starting pitchers, but baseball games that actually count.  

      

Slowly but surely, we are putting the Jim Bowden era behind us. 

(Thanks, Steve, for the spellcheck.) 

      

Jordan Zimmermann had a rough time in his last outing.  He got shelled for seven hits and five runs in just two innings against the used-to-be mighty Cardinals.  Zim 2 -- I can't think of another nickname yet -- had been suffering from a pretty bad case of the flu.  And no one expected him to continue his perfect 0.00 ERA throughout the entire Spring.  So a bad outing was inevitable.  

Despite getting shelled, Zim 2's ERA went up to just 3.14, a figure that other Nationals' pitchers competing for the starting rotation would love to have.  Think Balester, Collin.  After being called up in mid-season last year, he posted an unimpressive ERA in the mid-5s.  That's okay for a young pitcher (he's only 22) as long as you see some progress.  But a 7.80 ERA during Spring Training suggests that has not been happening.

This season, the Nats' likely starting rotation will be very young:  John Lannan (24), Scott Olsen (25), Daniel Cabrera (27), and two 22-year-old rookies: Zimmermann and Shairon Martis.  And it is the Balester precedent that is the worry here; pitchers being rushed to the majors.

The Nats are still affected by the misguided decisions of Jim Bowden, their recently departed but un-missed general manager.  He would accelerate pitchers through the minor-league system faster than the norm or what their performance suggested.  Once in the majors, said pitchers would get shelled.  And they would either get banished to the bullpen, where they were asked to perform roles they had not prepared for and, again, get shelled.  Or they would simply get sent back down to the minors in a confidence-breaking move.  Or, in Balester's case, compete for a starting job in Spring Training and get absolutely hammered.  

The one pitcher who followed the Bowden Accelerated Path but performed well: John Lannan.  He is a serious, mature, no-drama type of pitcher, characteristics that Zim 2 and Martis seem to have.  But will these characteristics, without more minor-league experience, allow these 22-year-olds to perform more like Lannan?  Or will they end up like Balester?  

If the rotation firms up like it seems to be doing, we'll soon find out.

      

Benefiting from off-season workouts and maybe something else, the Nationals unveiled a leaner, more ripped Screech mascot on March 2.  But after Jim Bowden flew the coup, no one has seen Screech since.  And for good reason.  Soon after showing off his new bod, many began asking, how did Screech change so much in just a few months?

Rumors have begun circulating on the Internet – well, this blog – that Screech hired his cousin as his personal trainer, and that plenty of Boli was consumed after workouts.  According to his cousin’s mother: “As long as Jim was around, Screech knew there always would be someone else that fans wanted to get rid of more.  So he could check birth certificates at Jose Rijo’s baseball academy, load up on Boli, and no one would care.  But, now that Jim’s gone, Screech thinks that he needs to fly under the radar until the season begins.” 

His new, sleeker self actually might make that possible.

Update:  From Screech via Mom: “I’ve been out of action because, when I was prancing around at the ESPN Zone, I pulled a hammy.  And, by the way, have you heard of Clint?”