It’s finally official: the Washington Nationals announced Wednesday morning that they have signed GM Mike Rizzo to a “multi-year” extension, although terms and length were not disclosed, and Rizzo told the Junkies shortly after that announcement that “I felt all along that I was gonna get mine done in due time when the time was right."
The right time was about time, according to Grant and Danny.
“Danny, it goes without saying, this was turbulent at best, and a disastrous debacle at worst over the last two weeks for this organization,” Grant said. “It’s been one publicly bad look after another, so to get a deal in place with your GM, who has done a very, VERY good job, today was a good day and helps them hopefully turn a corner.”
“The last two weeks, this looked like an unserious organization with everything that was happening,” Danny replied. “Everything that was going on was not positive, and hanging in limbo was the best GM in town. The overall balance sheet is incredibly positive for Mike Rizzo and company; they needed this win desperately and badly, and they got it – can you imagine if this went south and Rizzo was still in limbo when the season ended? A massive pillar in the ground for both Rizzo and the organization at large.”
And as GP said, they’ve come this far, why wouldn’t the Nats want Rizzo to see it through?
“They’re 20 miles into this rebuild, and it’s at the time where they’re about to turn the corner and start to bear fruit,” Grant said. “There will be a lot of promotions of these elite prospects next year, so to not extend Dave Martinez or Mike Rizzo when they’re this far into the rebuild didn’t make sense. Maybe in a couple years you re-evaluate if they’re the guys to finish the job…but they’ve done it once before.”
Take a listen to the entire discussion above!
