10:45am: The Nationals announced that not only has Williams been fired, but the entire coaching staff has been let go as well. Bench coach Randy Knorr, pitching coach Steve McCatty, hitting coach Rick Schu, third base coach Bobby Henley, first base coach Tony Tarasco, bullpen coach Matt LeCroy and defensive coordinator Mark Weidemaier are all out, as the Nats will hire a new skipper and an entirely new field staff.
10:17am: The Nationals dismissed manager Matt Williams earlier this morning, a source tells James Wagner of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports wrote last Friday that his fate was sealed, and reports of communication issues from Heyman, the Post’s Barry Svrluga and others have been circulating for quite some time.
Believed by many to be the division favorite entering the season, the Nationals instead finished the year second place in the NL East by a wide margin and also failed to secure a Wild Card spot in the playoffs. Of course, injuries played a large role in the team’s underperformance — Anthony Rendon, Ryan Zimmerman, Denard Span, Jayson Werth, Stephen Strasburg and Doug Fister were among those to spend time on the DL — and an unexpectedly dreadful first half from Ian Desmond did the team little favors.
However, reports late in the season surfaced that suggested Williams’ cold demeanor didn’t sit well with players, and the aforementioned Svrluga report in particular chronicles a significant altercation with Werth while also mentioning communication issues with a number of veteran players. Bryce Harper gave Williams a vote of confidence late in the season, but shortly thereafter, the manager seemed inexplicably oblivious to a physical confrontation between Harper and trade acquisition Jonathan Papelbon. Harper called Papelbon’s antics “tired” after the closer threw near Manny Machado‘s head, telling the media that if anyone on the club was going to pay for it, it’d be Harper himself the following day in the form of retaliatory plunking. Days later, Papelbon would take issue with Harper, supposedly for not running out a fly-ball (though, as many have pointed out, Harper did reach first base prior to the ball being caught) and ultimately grab Harper by the throat and shove him after a heated exchange. Unaware of what had transpired at the other end of the dugout, Williams sent Papelbon out to pitch the next inning.
Williams won National League Manager of the Year honors in 2014 despite persistent questions regarding his bullpen management, which were highlighted in last year’s playoffs. His two-year tenure with the Nationals will conclude with a 179-145 record that looks impressive on paper but serves as a reminder that there’s much more to evaluating a manager than simply checking the win/loss column.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I’m honestly shocked it wasn’t immediately after the last pitch was thrown yesterday.
I don’t follow the Nationals all that well… Besides the obvious fact that they didn’t make the playoffs, what mistakes did williams make?
LOL. I don’t even know where one would start the list.
It would take me days…he sounded like too much of a hard ass, number one. Two, there was a game where one of their best hitters (Rendon) was asked to bunt. Bullpen mismanagement. Honestly, I thought he was going to come back, injuries killed this team. But the Papelbon thing happened and all bets were off. I think Scioscia would be a great candidate if he opted out.
Scioscia is is going to the the Dodgers
Don’t think that’s happening, but if Mattingly were available, I wouldn’t object to his hiring in D.C. Don’s main problem in LA is that he’s not a former Dodger (although I’ve never heard Tom Lasorda criticize him).
He’d be a great candidate for replacing Matt Williams, yes, because he is awful.
I realize fans of almost EVERY team say this about their manager when they aren’t winning, but his tactical in-game decisions were terrible. The simplest way to relate a hundred individual examples is to say that it seemed like he was inflexible and stuck in the “old school” mindset. He’d bring in a lefty to face a lefty even if the numbers didn’t support it. He’d bunt just because the leadoff hitter got on even though generally it’s not a good move. He’d save his best pitchers until he had a save situation rather than using them in a high-leverage situation (he tried to fix this late this year, but it was too late).
It is certainly true that he was old school, but many of his decisions were just weird, such as how he continually used rivero or treinen as seventh inning men when Thornton was by so far the best option there. He also would do things like bring pap or storen in for two non-save situations in a row and then not be available the next day when they are needed. He used Roark only it seemed in spot starts and very long relief when he seemed to do well in short stints. He doesn’t seem to understand that gio is the type of guy that will either give you five crummy innings or five fantastic innings, but start in and start out he ran gio past what his leash should have been. He would play espi 3 days in a row and then sit him for two weeks and would have let a pitcher pinch hit over uggla even when we needed power off of the bench. I could go on and on about his on field decisions but would also like to point out that I really think being old school is the way to go, really only hinch hurdle and Maddon are analytical in the playoffs this year, and all of those are wild cards. Williams being old school is not the problem, it’s just him not being good enough.
#1 would easily bullpen management. #2 would be his lack of awareness in the clubhouse and keeping the clubhouse together – his handling of Papelbon, Werth, and Storen.
Regarding Storen, not Williams’ fault his GM decided to get a closer. Storen’s psyche was already weak, this goes back 2-3 years. As a Nats fan, even with him getting 25+ saves, I still knew he was going to mess up.
There’s a little more to it than injuries, obviously.
It’s always at least somewhat unfair to blame the manager when the team has injuries and there aren’t at least replacement level replacements showing up from the farm system, which says that the GM hasn’t done his job properly, not the manager. You can’t do much if you’ve got AA guys playing at AAA because you don’t have anyone decent to play there and then you have to use them at the majors and nothing goes right.
If anything, the GM and most of the front office staff needs to hit the bricks ASAP, because you can’t do much with a different manager if your talent base is bad and your GM brings in a dude that wrecks clubhouse chemistry and pisses off your quite good closer (and any of that guy’s friends) for absolutely no reason when you’re leading your division. There’s not much Matt Williams could have done at that point when management sabotaged him.
I don’t think it’s lack of talent. Taylor never hit above AA, and he had a decent year. Probably our starting center fielder next season. But even then, having Rendon, Span, Zim, AND Werth out at the same time was too much. Then you had Desmond stinking it up in a contract year, everything that could have gone wrong did.
No big surprise with this Monday morning news. FO needs to win the fan base back asap. So…Randy Knorr? I’d say 60/40. Players and fans both know and respect him. Maybe add a couple of new coaches for good measure.
They actually got rid of the entire staff.
WOW. NO SH.. !!
Awesome to be a Nats’ fan right now.
Thought they would at least keep their pitching coach
Shocked they fired cat but I guess maybe they already have an idea of the replacement and he wants his own staff.
Remember the name Bo Porter. The team loved him when he was there before, especially #34. Just interviewed with the Marlins so they may have to act fast. He seems to bring the best out of guys.
As a Braves fan, I loved Bo Porter’s hire to our coaching staff, especially seeing that I was reading between the lines – that Porter would be the successor when Fredi Gonzalez would be fired, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. Regardless, if WSH comes a calling, he’ll be gone. And he’ll know a lot about his rival: the Braves.
If Washington had made Porter manager before the Astros snatched him they would have their WS rings!
The team wants a coach that has a strong relationship with the players, not old school, will be in tuned with the clubhouse, focus on paying attention to detail and defense. That points to Bo Porter. This teams is built to win now, bring in someone that has established relationships and respect from the current roster.
With every managerial opening, I get more and more scared that someone is going to steal Searage away from the Pirates.
I’m not sure Searage in managerial material. Hell of a pitching coach, but not sure from there.
It’s a shame that Matt Williams underachieved with a team as stacked as theirs. They need a players manager who can get the most out of them who’s young yet experienced enough to garner their respect.They need to look long and hard at Bo Porter. He’s familiar to the organization and has managerial experience!
I just hope they don’t do something stupid like hiring Cal Ripken. That might please casual fans and the Orioles-obsessed Tom Boswell, but few else.
Would Gardenhire be considered a sufficiently attractive name for the Nationals? He frequently fielded competititve teams in Minnesota despite a subpar payroll, and while he’s been mentioned as a likely replacement for Brad Ausmus in Detroit, wouldn’t the Nationals seemingly be a better option than the aging, institutionally confused Tigers?
IIRC Brad Ausmus is staying in Detroit.
The “Institutionally confused” Tigers have won FOUR straight AL Centrals, along with 3 ALCS appearances and a World Series appearance. How may series have the Nationals with very similar talent?
This is exactly why I was stunned when Torey Lovullo waived his rights to interview for a manager position. He would have been exactly the kind of new blood the Nats would be hungry for.
And Rizzo survives. What a joke.
Agree, How does the guy who is the Reason for all of this misery survive !
One of the worst jobs of running a clubhouse in recent memory. He literally had no idea what was going on and what his players wanted.
I’d bet Bud Black gets the job. Great manager, and in pretty much direct contrast to the type of manager that Williams was, which i’m guessing is exactly what they want.
SEE! YOU! LATER!
NATS need a young energizing Manager like the Braves 3rd Base coach Bo Porter. Bo is a winner!