Now that Jim Riggleman has been announced as the non-interim manager of the Washington Nationals, it's clear that the choice is one of getting-along to go-along.

We should be clear - this is not a strong move, no matter how the team decides to spin it.  Even though he inherited a team playing better than it was at the beginning of the season, Riggleman is being praised (?!?!) for running up a 33-42 record.  Granted, that's a better winning percentage than Manny Acta had, but then again, Acta had a larger sample size and didn't have much time with solid reliver Sean Burnett or Nyjer Morgan in Center - in fact, Acta had to start the season with Lastings Milledge in CF, which would hamper anyone's winning percentage.

I'm not saying Bobby Valentine, Don Mattingly, Bob Melvin, or Bo Porter (who? Bo Porter! who?) would have been any better - in fact, that's my basic point.  This is an organization that has, for now, chosen mediocrity - assuming that it'll have at least 2 more season of at or sub .500 baseball - so why ruin another Manny Acta potentially rising star with a bad team?

Listen, I wish "Riggo II" all the best - at least he has a nickname built for DC.  But his record speaks for itself.  I hope he's a better teacher than manager, because the best job he could do now is teach a young team to play the right way, and set the Nats up for future success.

Because it isn't coming next season.

      

Jim Riggleman, come on down - you're the next contestant on "Manage the Washington Nationals".

Hopefully, I'm not the only one who feels like this is some absurd game show (which it kind of is), but that isn't exactly reason to despair.  Believe me, if you follow the natmosphere on Twitter, you'd think the world has ended (special thanks to @Half-Street, @NFA_Brian, @Needham_chris, and @kevin_reiss) - but it hasn't, at least not in my opinion.

Welcome to what newly minted Washington Post columnist Tracee Hamilton has dubbed "the interim plan".  Believe me, Jim Riggleman is a big part of it.

I know Hendo is pretty upset and against Riggleman as a solution, but I come to offer solace to the masses.  This is all part of Interim GM Mike Rizzo's interim plan.

We can all recite, at this point, Riggo(II)'s bio - this is his fourth managing stint, mainly as fill-ins, despite his playoff season in Cubbie-land in 1998.  No, he's not an inspiring choice, but he's got two things going for him - (1) experience taking over a bad team, and (2) he's been there all season.

Riggo (II) doesn't have to waltz into the room unknown.  He doesn't come in not knowing what to do with a team like this that he inherits.  He knows the players, the front office, the staff.  He hit the ground running from day one.  He's an unspectacular, unsuprising, likely solid choice.

Sound familiar?

The move is classic Rizzo.  What did he do a few weeks ago?  Traded dead wood for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett, both of whom have played as good as expected, if not better.  Solid, experienced, not loved immediately by the natmosphere, but ultimately successful. 

Is Riggleman the long term solution?  No, I like Jeff's list much better - especially Gibson or Foli.  However - will Riggleman perform in the second half?  I think so.

Welcome to "The Interim Plan".

      

So it's blogger day at Nationals Park, and as I type this from the auxiliary press box, we're in the 3rd inning.  We've had a very eventful day, starting with the briefing we got from the Nats community relations folks, speaking about all the good they do for the community (including my post on the cap food bank).

After that we had Q&A time with some Nats players, specifically Willie Harris, Nick Johnson, Ryan Zimmerman, and Adam Dunn.  I asked the group for their thoughts on their current (season high) 3 game win streak and what went right - Zimmerman answered that "pitching and defense" had led the way. Willie Harris emphasized that it was important to try and have more good days than bad even while losing, and that a positive outlook and demeanor would go a long way in the clubhouse.  Adam Dunn said that he felt like the team's better days were ahead of them.

Our twenty minutes with Manny Acta were some of the most productive of the day.  First off, Manny asked for more time when we got to the end, so that's one sure way to get us on his good side :-).  Beyond that, however, Manny didn't sound in any way concerned about his job, especially in lieu of the now week old Ken Rosenthal Fox Sports report.  He spoke passionately about the improvements the team had made, focusing specifically on the young starting pitching and their performances of late.  He also spoke to the defense, challenging us to find a MLB team that spent more time on fielding drills.

Aside from our interview with MASN's Nats play-by-play man Bob Carpenter (podcast coming soon), the other highlight of the day had to be speaking to team president Stan Kasten and Interim GM Mike Rizzo in the press booth.  I'll have a lot of news and notes from these interviews in further columns, but aside from Rizzo's thoughts on the draft and Stan's comparisons with the late 80's-early 90's Braves, the quote of the day had to be Mike Rizzo responding to a question about trades with "we're open for business."

He quickly followed that up with "if the deals make sense and improve the club long-term", but it's still very telling that the Nats are "open for business."  Though he didn't speak to who they would be giving up, he did say that they would be focusing on getting young pitching and athletic players in return - none of which sounds like the Jim Bowden obsession on "toolsy" guys.

So where does this leave us?  Well, it leaves me the press box with a game to follow and Ian and I with a podcast to finish, so I best get on that.  Thanks to the Nats press team, the players above, and to Stan Kasten and Mike Rizzo for making this day possible. 

Interim GM Mike Rizzo and Team President Stan Kasten take bloggers' questions at Nationals Park Saturday. Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nationals News Network

      

So by now we've all had a little time digesting Fox Sports' report by the generally reliable Ken Rosenthal that the Nats manager - Manny Acta - will be fired soon. 

I have no bone to pick with the contention that Manny's time in DC is nearing an end - we all expected that he'd never last forever, especially not with the worst team in baseball two years running.  What I don't understand is - why fire him now?

Unless you KNOW that Jim Riggleman (who Rosenthal says is in line to replace Acta) is your guy, and you don't think you can keep him at the end of the season without promoting him now, what's the point?  Maybe if the team had "quit" on Manny, I could see dumping him.

But the team, in my honest opinion, hasn't quit on him- they keep playing hard night in and night out.  I know you can hold him responsible for the errors, and I do, but he is NOT responsible for a piss-poor pitching staff, a bullpen that couldn't buy a strike with their combined salaries for most of the season thus far, and a starting staff with no experience, save an average starter in Scott Olsen and a wreck of a pitcher in Daniel Cabrera.

I guess when you fire your worthless GM (Jim Bowden) before the season starts, and have an established pitching coach (Randy St. Claire) take the fall for the poorly put together pitching staff, you don't have many people left to fire. 

For the record, I don't hold Manny Acta reponsible for the poor overall performance of this team.  I hold Jim Bowden responsible.  Above all, however, I hold the Lerner family accountable for this poor sham of a baseball team.

The Lerners knew Bowden had a reputation around baseball for being a grandstanding joke, yet they let him stay until he truly embarrased them.  They knew Stan Kasten knows what he is doing, yet they refused to empower him until now.  They know they could have approved spending Free Agent money on more than retreads and a last ditch effort to get Adam Dunn and Joe Biemel.  How hard would it have been to get a starter, like the entire population of "Nats Town" asked for?

I'm wondering when Mark Lerner, or Ted Lerner will fire themselves for the affront to fans that resides in South East DC.  Maybe that's when we'll have a firing that actually accomplishes the goal of making the team better.