clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Jim Riggleman Was Acting As Nationals Manager And Salesman

It's been just about a week since Jim Riggleman unexpectedly resigned as Manager of the Washington Nationals, and something tells me we still haven't heard the end of this story. According to Tim Keown of ESPN, it wasn't the actual baseball duties that wore on Riggleman, but the act of selling the direction of the team to the fans and organization that caused him to walk away.

↵
↵

He could manage, which is what a manager does between the first and last pitch. But he couldn't peddle the Nationals during all the other waking hours. He just couldn't sell. He couldn't close the deal.

↵
↵

Wait a minute, you're telling me Riggleman didn't like doing all those terrible MASN commercials that he looked so indifferent in? No way. Riggleman seemed like the classic "baseball man" so it doesn't surprise me that it was all the other stuff that drove him away. Years of selling the direction of the franchise, and himself, to the ownership just took it's toll, and when the organization didn't pick up his option, that might have been the final straw.

↵