Former Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman went on "The Dan Patrick Show" Wednesday to explain why he left the Nationals in the middle of the season and what's next for him in the world of baseball. In the interview, he called his departure a "lose-lose" situation, but said that he would not change his decision knowing what he knows now.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post compiled several great Riggleman quotes from the interview. Here's a couple:
On the perception that he left because the team would not extend his contract:
"There was no ultimatum of pick up my option or I’m not gonna continue to manage, because that was definitely not gonna lead to a good place. I knew that," Riggleman said. "I felt like I was investing myself 100 percent into the ballclub and wanted to see what it was gonna take for me to move forward with the ballclub in the future, and that was only gonna be found out if we talked"
On his departure possibly costing him managing opportunities in the future:
"Well again, this is something that I had considered," he said. "You know, I knew that the consequences of walking away from it, the effect that can have on people and what they think, but nobody knows what you’re really going through in those situations. I just have to live with those consequences. I made my own bed and I’ll sleep in it. I certainly love to manage, but if people have questions about it, about me in the future, then I can’t do anything about that. I just have to live with that."