A look back on the skipper’s tenure with the Nationals
Earlier this season I named Davey Martinez as a dark horse for manager of the year. At the time, they were a game behind the Braves for third place in the NL East, in playoff contention, and had a respectable record of 28-31 (same as the Diamondbacks, by the way), but unlike the D-Backs, the Nationals stopped winning. They now stand at 37-53 with a fired Manager (Davey Martinez) and a fired General Manager (Mike Rizzo) both of whom were part of the World Series Champion Nationals team of 2019.
Martinez had a 16 year MLB career in which he spent time with 9 different ball clubs. His best year came with the White Sox in 1996, posting a 4.8 WAR and hit .318 (Baseball Reference). After an injury in 2002, he hung up his cleats. Martinez returned to baseball as a coach in 2006, as a Spring Training instructor with the Tampa Bay Rays.
His time with the Rays spanned 8 years including being named to the American League All Star game coaching staff in 2009, a year after losing the World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies. Martinez would have many chances to interview for managerial roles; Toronto and Cleveland after 2010, White Sox after 2011, Houston after 2012, Cubs and Washington after 2013, and the Rays in 2014. All of these roles were not filled by Martinez as the teams went other ways but Martinez was picked up to be a Bench Coach for the Chicago Cubs in 2016. Cubs’ player David Ross said in 2015, “(Martinez) brings a good mood to the locker room and the dugout every day.” Martinez was a huge part of the Cubs success in 2016, adding to their incredible World Series championship. He was also asked to participate in coaching the All Star roster in 2017.
Martinez was a finalist for the Nationals Managerial job in 2018, and he ended up getting the job. It wasn’t an easy first year, the Nationals regressed from a playoff team and 97-65 record in 2017 to a 82-80 non-playoff team that watched star-Bryce Harper leave to the Phillies in the postseason. Martinez needed to bounce back with a talented team in 2019.
But he and the Nationals did not bounce back. In fact, they were horrible to start the 2019 season. They started 19-31 and fans were losing it. They wanted Martinez fired. Luckily, the Nationals rebounded, took a wild card spot into the postseason and ended up winning Martinez his second World Series victory. I still get goosebumps when I think of Adam Eaton and Howie Kendrick doing their “clutch and drive” celebration in the dugout. Man, that team was fun to watch.
The team has been in rebuild mode since then. The future is bright for the Nationals and honestly, this year was looking good up until a very bad stretch resulted in having the worst starting pitching rotation (an all-time worst rotation contender minus MacKenzie Gore). The thing it comes down to… the Nationals leadership saw success. Then they didn’t. The began to see potential again. As a business person, once you see success, you just simply want it. Martinez was generating that success and the Nationals released him.
I can’t see Martinez being a free agent coach much longer. A contender will sign him because he’s a champion. Two World Series rings and if he goes to a contender this year, a third might be possible. Davey Martinez isn’t finished in baseball, I’m convinced his winning ways are still ahead of him.
Thumbnail Credit: Pennsylvania2 via Wikimedia Commons
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I’m shocked it was in the middle of the season. I thought they would at least wait until the end of the season.
Right? It seemed harsh, but I truly think it needed to be done!
I’m seeing this a lot more in sports with coaching. Waiting until the end of the season to fire one used to be standard. Now you see them get fire whenever nowadays. My question is, why does this seem to be the new norm now? That would make a great article.