It’s officially a new era in the nation’s capital.
The Washington Nationals are cleaning up shop.
After a brutal weekend series against the Boston Red Sox, the Nats have fired general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez.
The news was confirmed by The Washington Post’s Andrew Golden.
It’s a shock mostly in the history these two men have with D.C. The timing is also curious, with the Nats holding the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft in a week.
Rizzo and Martinez were the two leaders when the Nationals completed their epic 2019 season turnaround en route to the World Series championship.
But since then, it’s been mostly downhill.
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Rizzo did the right thing in 2022, when he executed a brilliant trade away of Juan Soto in return for stellar prospects from the Padres.
Already they’ve got James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and C.J. Abrams as the three leaders of the team, all out of that deal, with potentially more to come.
But before this season, Martinez suggested this was the year the Nationals would get back into contention after a pair of 71-win seasons.
Right now, though, they’re on pace for even fewer wins.
Wood, Gore and Abrams have delivered, as has Luis Garcia. But the depth of the roster hasn’t come through at all.
And so the Nationals have decided to try something new.
Someone is going to inherit some exciting young talent with the goal of building around the strong foundation.
There’s a winner to be built in D.C. It just won’t be Rizzo and Martinez there to see it through.
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