Congratulations Mike Rizzo, You're Fired

When I read that the Nationals were prepared to fire Mike Rizzo, I thought it was a joke.  That can't be serious right?  Apparently, and to the disgust of this Washington area baseball fan (although I'm not a Nats fan), they are doing just that.

If you don't know who Mike Rizzo is let me provide you with some background.  He is currently the acting general manager of the Washington Nationals, having replaced Jim Bowden who resigned from that position earlier this year. 

So far, Rizzo has made several key moves as Nationals GM. 

He successfully signed Ryan Zimmerman to a 5 year, $45 million extension (which is probably less than he would have gotten in free agency). 

He made a trade with the Pirates which brought in Nyjer Morgan (starting in center field and hitting over .300) while giving up high potential but low production players in Joel Hanrahan and Lastings Milledge.  

He reconstructed the mess that former GM Jim Bowden left behind.  At the start of the year (with players that Bowden had acquired), the Nationals were (as Scott Boras phrased it) rudderless.  They became the fastest team in major league history to go 40 games under .500 and the players on the field reflected that.  

Then, at the all-star break, Rizzo made a gutsy move in firing manager Manny Acta. Under new manager Jim Riggleman, the Nationals have been a .500 ballclub.  In addition, they are finally showing some star power. 

In the second half of the year, Washington has gotten arguably the most production out of the heart of their order (Zimmerman, Dunn, and Willingham) in the major leagues.

Oh yeah, and then there was that other deal he made. 

Just before the deadline, Rizzo orchestrated a deal for top pick Stephen Strasburg.  Although the over $15 million contract may seem like a lot (especially considering the previous record draft signing of $10.5 million), most baseball experts agree that the deal was actually very fair.    

These are all great examples of the type of job Mike Rizzo has done since taking over as GM.

Instead of being rewarded with a pat on the back and a real contract, however, the Nationals are prepared to fire him. 

That's right, only days after all of his hard work paid off in a deal for Stephen Strasburg, he is being let go. The Nationals are even prepared to hold a "Stephen Strasburg day" on Friday without the man most responsible for the deal.  That may be the kind of thanks he gets, but it's not the kind he deserves.

I'm not saying that all of the moves above are destined for greatness.  Maybe Strasburg doesn't pan out, maybe Morgan is average and Milledge does turn out to be a superstar...nobody knows.  All I know is that, for the first time in years, people in Washington DC are talking about something other than the Redskins in mid August.

A large part of that has to do with the man the Nationals are about to shove out the door.