Jim Riggleman Stands on His Principles and Falls on His Face

"I can make a general in five minutes, but a good horse is hard to replace." — Abraham Lincoln

Jim Riggleman is no horse. A baseball lifer with a middling track record who took his shot, missed badly and then thought he was standing on his principles.

Riggleman had managed the Washington Nationals from the middle of 2009 up until yesterday, working year to year, always hoping for the kind of job security that a manager with over a decade of experience seemingly deserves.

The Nationals never seemed interested in that. 

It’s hard to argue with Riggleman’s timing, asking general manager Mike Rizzo to exercise his $600,000 option for 2012 with the team having won 11 of its last 12 games, but his methods may be what ultimately hangs around his neck for awhile.

See, Jim Riggleman didn’t just quit his job; he gave his boss an ultimatum and then walked out the door, mid road trip, when he didn’t get his way.

Now, Riggleman has said that all he did was ask for a meeting on his contract status. He’ll contend that this was a matter of pride, that he could no longer handle being a “lame duck” manager. He’ll say those things and we’ll shake our heads as we think of all the things we put up with in our daily jobs and the “plight” of Jim Riggleman. 

I don’t expect to see Jim Riggleman in a dugout anytime soon. His accomplishments and record are not nearly impressive enough to make baseball executives forget what he did to one of their own.

After all, Riggleman was a general, not a horse.