Nats skipper Dave Martinez spoke with reporters on a conference call this morning and, when asked whether there have been any talks regarding his contract status, replied with a simple, “Nothing” (Twitter link via Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). The 2020 season is the final guaranteed year on Martinez’s contract, although the Nats do hold a club option on the 2021 season.
It’s not surprising to hear that there have been no talks during the pandemic shutdown, but it’s a bit curious that the two sides hadn’t spoken about a new deal earlier in the spring. The 55-year-old Martinez, after all, was at the helm for one of the most remarkable turnarounds any team has made in recent memory. In the absence of an extension, the Nats could’ve perhaps picked up Martinez’s 2021 option in advance; such measures are fairly common throughout the league (particularly for winning managers) in order to spare managers the dreaded “lame duck” status and the frequent questions and speculation that accompany such contractual uncertainty.
Then again, the Nationals aren’t anything close to a typical organization with regard to how they handle their managers. Martinez, for instance, became the sixth man to manage a Nationals game in an eight-year span (2011-18) when he was hired and took the field for the first time. No Nationals manager has ever lasted more than three seasons on the job, and in addition to generally having a short leash with managers, the Nats have a reputation for not compensating their skippers as well as other clubs throughout the league. (Recall that the team wanted to hire Bud Black to manage in the 2015-16 offseason but made him only a one-year, $1.6MM offer despite a nine-year run as a well-regarded manager in San Diego.)
If anyone were to buck those trends, it’s easy to imagine Martinez being the man to do so. His Nats famously surged back from a 19-31 start to the 2019 season to capture the franchise’s first World Series win and finished above .500 the season prior as well. Logically speaking, one would expect Martinez to stick around for at least the 2021 season, but the Nats’ track record in this arena illustrates that they’re difficult to predict. As the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga highlighted in early March, general manager Mike Rizzo is in a similar spot (minus the club option), but ownership has seemingly yet to make any sort of final decision on its organization’s leaders.
If he stays out of trouble, Martinez will have at least one more opportunity with another team if the Nats don’t pay him. Martinez is in a good situation.
The Lerners are well-known in DC for not closing deals until they absolutely have to, even in their pre-baseball developer days. Never mind Martinez, Mike Rizzo’s contract expires at the end of the 2020 season, has no option afterward, and has not been extended. In Martinez’s case, it would not surprise me if they simply picked up the 2021 option and left it at that until the end of that season.
He’s the most overrated manager in baseball
Even more overrated than anyone that manages the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets?
Yeah, really. How can you be over-rated if you win it all? It’s not like he was managing the 27 Yankees.
He’s the manager of the World Series champs, of course he’s overrated. It’s the nature of things considering how little effect managers truly have on wins and losses.
Under this premise, then all 30 MLB managers are overrated.
Or underrated. Managers get over praised for success and over criticized for failure. And, I guess sometimes they get overly criticized even when they win it all. One way or another their contribution is generally exaggerated by fans, was my point.
What a stupid comment
Could you explain how he is overrated?
Managers don’t effect games like people think they do. Martinez is a meh skipper at best. He only used 6 different pitchers throughout the whole postseason and luckily it worked. Put him on a team without that talent and he wouldn’t last 2 seasons.
Interesting. Your theory is that it’s more challenging to manage less talented teams. Also, that teams with lower quality pitching have more trouble getting outs. I bet you think domed stadiums have fewer rainouts? Makes you think.
No other team has three 100 million dollar starters in their rotation. Heck you can give a him another decent playoff caliber team and he wouldn’t do well.
@AFK711
“Put him on a team without that talent and…”
You mean like the team he was managing the first half of the season with injured players an under performing bullpen…
A team he helped turn around with very few high profile adds…
Gerardo Parra for example
Martinez will get a new contract barring unforeseen circumstance. THe Nats always handle upper leadership negotiations this way. Go back and take a look at the renewals for RIzzo
Oh so put him on a team without talent and he is no good? Ok but does that not apply to all managers?
This myth of the Nationals/Lerners “low balling” managers has been allowed to fester for way to long.. Dusty Baker was given a 2-year, $4 million contract with $3 million in incentives. Their deal that fell apart with Bud Black was $1.6 million a year (which is more than he ended up getting from the Rockies a year later). If anything, the Lerners are guilty of not getting out in front of this dumb talking point that the Nats low-ball managers. Martinez will get paid as long as he doesn’t make a big deal about pay.
Per USA today and Washington Post the Rockies offered 1.6 million but only for one year!
That is a joke. And Black got multiple years with the Rockies thus had millions more in guaranteed money the the Nats offered.
The Nats are tightwods with managers. You can try to pretend it is not so but the fact is they are cheap.
The Lerners are cold-hearted negotiators (unless Boras in on the other side of the table). I think it’s a smart move for them not to jump the gun and give this guy a premature 4-5 year extension. Let’s see how he pans out this year, exercise his 2021 option and if he brings the team to playoffs in 2020 & 2021, lock him up after that. They could even amend his 2021 option with more incentives for playoff series success, but there’s no need to extend him at this point in time. He could pull a John Farrell and go from champs to chumps in 1 season.