Former Nationals GM Mike Rizzo to Buy Beer for Fans in DC Before MLB Home Run Derby

Recently fired Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo is bidding farewell to his former team by buying beers for fans on Monday night.

Rizzo invited fans to grab a "Round on Riz" before the 2025 MLB Home Run Derby airs at Penn Quarter Sports Tavern or Walter's Sports Bar in Washington, D.C.

The Nationals fired Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez last Sunday, one week before the franchise is set to select the No. 1 pick of the 2025 MLB draft.

At the time the club's record had fallen to 37-53 following a home sweep by the Boston Red Sox.

Rizzo said in his message posted on Instagram to fans that Washington D.C. has "become our home in every sense of the word" since he first joined the Nationals as an assistant general manager in 2006.

He was named the team's general manager in 2009, and added the title of president of basketball operations in 2013.

The Nationals won the NL East twice in 2016 and 2017, but didn't make it past the NLDS in either campaign. Pressure mounted on Rizzo as the Nationals gave him a two-year extension ahead of the 2018 season.

That paid off for the Nationals as a team led by Juan Soto, Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer claimed the franchise's first World Series victory in 2019.

Rizzo hasn't been able to build a postseason contender since then. The Nationals have finished last in the division in four of the last five seasons, and are set to enter the fall once more in the basement of the NL East.

On the other hand, Rizzo was responsible for starting off the Nats' ongoing rebuild. He acquired some of the franchise's top prospects, including left-hander MacKenzie Gore and outfielder James Wood, in the 2022 trade that sent Soto to the San Diego Padres.

Rizzo told D.C. radio station 106.7 The Fan after his firing that he believed the "foundation of this rebuild is solid."

The next step of that rebuild will take place on Sunday when the Nationals select at No. 1 pick for the first time since Rizzo selected Strasburg and Bryce Harper in back-to-back drafts in 2009 and 2010. Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly predicts the Nationals will select left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson out of LSU when the draft kicks off All-Star Week in Atlanta.