In shocking news Riggleman resigns

Unhappy with his contract situation and feeling a lack of commitment from the front office towards him Riggleman announced his resignation today following a Nats win.

Riggleman spoke to the media following the game citing his being told by Nationals General Manager, Mike Rizzo that at this point in the season they would not discuss possibly picking up his option for 2012. This came after Riggleman told them once they got to Chicago he wished to at least talk about it and if not he would resign following todays game. The Nats front office opted not talk about it and true to his word Riggleman announced his resignation.

With the Nationals playing the way they have been lately (11 wins in their last 12 games) this news definitely comes as a shock to many people. With todays win the Nationals went 1 game above 500 marking the first time they have been above 500 this deep in the season since 2005. And what makes what they are doing even more impressive is the fact that they are doing it without Stephen Strasburg and that they were without all star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman for 58 out of the 75 games this season.

Riggleman took over the Nationals mid 2009 season after they had gotten off to a 26 and 61 start under then manager Manny Acta. The Nationals ended up finishing the 2009 season with 59 wins and 103 losses and went 33 and 42 under Riggleman that year. With him as the manager the Nats then saw a 10 game win increase from the 2009 and 2010 seasons and this year are now 1 game above 500.

Honestly despite some criticism at times towards Riggleman from others I do feel that he has done a good job with what he has been given and I can see where the team has improved. For some teams being a game over 500 is no big deal and for some teams it is actually considered a bad year but for the Nationals being a game over 500 this late in the season is saying something. They have shown heart this season and have fought back in situations that normally they would have just given up on in years past. Hopefully this is just on more situation that they will show heart in and will carry on their impressive play in June so far to the rest of the season.

As of now there has been no announcement made as to who will finish out the season in his place but if I had to make a choice I’d stay inside the organization and would probably go with Bo Porter