Comments on: Rival baseball executives hate Mike Rizzo, hope the Nationals never win

By: captn58crunch

captn58crunch — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:55:14 +0000

This is the same guy who ran Riggleman out of the organization. Riggleman was smart to show him up and just quit.

By: earthling72

earthling72 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:31:11 +0000

i’m bitter at rizzo because he publicly un-invited all phils fans from his park. that sounds pretty childish on his park, but i still wanna say… HE STARTED IT! hahahahaha i was so happy when they lost so dramatically last night, it truly was a shadenfreude moment!!!

By: earthling72

earthling72 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:23:50 +0000

rizzo went on a media campaign trashing the phils fans who travel to their park and buy tickets, concessions, etc. he even went so far as to use the word “hate” when describing his feelings towards the phils fans. what a douche!

By: earthling72

earthling72 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:17:37 +0000

as a phils fan, i’ve seen my boys play at fenway, wrigley, shea, citifield, nats park, marlins new park, and i’ve also checked out old yankee, new yankee stadium, and pnc park and watched 2 teams that i have no rooting interest in play because i LOVE BASEBALL. that’s why i was so angered when rizzo, who can rarely sell out his ballpark, publicly un-invited the phils fans. at CBP in philly, our announcer thanks all fans in attendence from both the phils and the away team. rizzo is an ass monkey.

By: earthling72

earthling72 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:10:24 +0000

the strasburg debacle is exactly that, a debacle. also trash talking the phils fans who buy tickets hot dogs and beers and publicly un-inviting them is ridiculous. rizzo is an ass pirate.

By: materialman80

materialman80 — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:58:50 +0000

Tell those execs not to worry. The Cardinals will help them out tonight!

By: dtknick

dtknick — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:56:47 +0000

Big deal, let’s enjoy the post season, go yanks!!!!!

By: senatorsguy

senatorsguy — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:21:34 +0000

Huh. On to Game 5.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:18:19 +0000

I’m old enough to remember seeing “crowds” reported at around 5,000 (and probably around 2,000) on television at Yankees home games c. 1970. Fans will jump the ship in droves if the team stinks and management doesn’t seem to care, except for perhaps a team like the Cubs, whose fans revel in losing.

Conversely, a winning team will draw sellouts despite the indifference of a fanbase (example: Marlins in 1997 and 2003).

Let’s face it–Until now, since the team moved to Washington, the Nationals hadn’t done anything to really deserve the fans’ support. The Jim Bowden “We’re here therefore you must love us no matter how crappy we play” approach clearly didn’t work.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:07:34 +0000

Great post. Rizzo took a POS assembled by Jim Bowden (who can put together a POS team like few other GMs in recent history) and made a playoff team out of it in just a few years. He ignored the Known Wisdom on two fronts–One, that the Nationals are supposed to be a loser franchise that contributes wins and players to the Designated Winners; and Two, that it takes years and years to overcome disastrous prior management.

THAT is what actually ticks off execs and fans of other organizations. He may be a jerk at times in the process, but citing that as the reason for disliking the Nationals is just a smokescreen.

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:02:30 +0000

I would have to think that he consulted extensively with medical personnel. I doubt an organizational decision like this is made by playing a hunch.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:54:26 +0000

heyblueyoustink,

I suggest you hide the car keys tonight, because you’re going to get VERY drunk with that plan.

By: chadjones27

chadjones27 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:49:21 +0000

Wow, I think this may be the first time a Phillies fan was the first one to bring up the dude that puked on a girl,and the Santa/snow ball incident. I didn’t know we were talking about that. I thought this was about ballpark sellouts, not stupid crap fans do. Oh well, at least he didn’t mention the JD Drew/ battery incident.

By: chadjones27

chadjones27 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:39:30 +0000

natstowngreg, that’s because RAJ took over a team that just won the World Series under the tutelage of Pat Gillick. Since he’s taken over, the team went from WS winners, to WS losers, to DS champs, to DS losers, to Ryan Howards contract, to not making the playoffs.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:32:31 +0000

@ FC: Indeed, sir. But it’s not the same as watching a playoff game in your own park. Trekking up to Baltimore (when they were in the playoffs and Washington had no team) just wouldn’t have been the same.

By: kellyb9

kellyb9 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:24:18 +0000

@ nolanwiffle – I understand Rizzo’s point, but wouldn’t you consult someone with some kind of medical background before making a decision that might effectively limit your team’s ability to win in the playoffs… like consult the guy who actually did Strasburg’s TJ surgery? They have a great team this year, but that’s no guarantee that they’ll be good next year. I find his decision to follow through with the Strasburg plan to by irresponsible. I find arguments actually defending the Strasburg plan to be completely absurd. And believe it or not, I like what the Nats are doing, and I’m a Phillies fan. I hope it turns into a nice rivalry. But mark my words…. If the Phillies ever shut down a pitcher like that, their GM would be fired.

By: timmons94

timmons94 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:22:50 +0000

He gave jayson worthless 126 mill. That disqualifies him for exec of the year for life. Only overpaid by about 96i million

By: thesmedman

thesmedman — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:13:36 +0000

I love Mike Rizzo.

Sincerely, S. Boras

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:11:18 +0000

Point taken. Very well stated.

By: willclarkgameface

willclarkgameface — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:02:17 +0000

Players gotta play? Oh yeah? And how is that possible when they are getting shut down because of some bogus insurance policy cop out?

Nats go down today, golf tomorrow, champions never.

By: willclarkgameface

willclarkgameface — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:59:12 +0000

Mike Rizzo is absolutely the biggest idiot in baseball.

And all of you that were so interested in attacking me all season for all my Mike Rizzo hate: suck it. Dude is the most smug prick in all of MLB right now and I too hope they go down in NLDS flames today and NEVER win the division again.

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:50:08 +0000

I can’t recall hearing one medical professional that is familiar with arm injuries say that Mike Rizzo has handled Strasburg poorly.

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:33:18 +0000

Maybe if Rizzo wrote it on a brick and hit you in the face with it, you might finally understand.

His plan in April was to limit Strasburg’s innings and consider this a TJ surgery rehabilitation season. 2013 is when he hoped to have Strasburg at full strength. It’s the same approach he took with Zimmermann.

Like most GM’s, I’m certain his long-term goal is to field a team that will be competive and perhaps vie for the playoffs year-in-year-out. The 2012 Nats, as even Rizzo would admit, were not expected to make the playoffs, let alone have the best record in baseball. He chose not to deviate from his Strasburg plan even though the team exceeded expectations.

Also, the best trades are the ones that work out for both teams. I don’t think any GM is looking to fleece another when a deal is consumated. Gio Gonzalez is a Cy Young candidate and was the Nats best pitcher all season. Rizzo would make that deal again every day of the week.

He’s not a magician. He’s been a pretty good GM though.

By: zacksdad

zacksdad — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Well then maybe he should shut it down all next year. It might get blown out next year. I just do not agree that in the beginning of the year they can say it should throw 180 innings to not damage his arm. I think a pitch count would be more accurate. Also maybe doing a MRI or some medical look at his arm to see if there is any stress on it. We will never know what would have happened or what will happen. But if they lose today, there will always people stating it could have been better.

By: voteforno6

voteforno6 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:40:05 +0000

Indeed. Considering how he handled the Riggleman situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if to hear that Rizzo has been less than diplomatic with other G.M.’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the G.M.’s quoted in this story was the one for the White Sox – apparently they were a little irked at Rizzo, when they thought that they had a deal to trade Edwin Jackson for Adam Dunn, which then fell apart.

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:38:10 +0000

Mike Rizzo is the biggest idiot in baseball.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:24:51 +0000

You tell ‘em, sistah. It’s true. Although, I think Rizzo could have handled Stras better so he would have innings available for the post-season, that’s not why you lost yesterday. Teams don’t win many (and by many, I mean any) games by scoring no runs. Have fun at the game! Make noise no matter what.

By: natslady

natslady — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:24:33 +0000

Excellent post. Mike Rizzo did things that should be ADMIRED. He brought a team from LAST to FIRST–ahead of schedule. He was a scout, and drove the thousands of miles that a scout drives and we fans here, we love him. He shut down Strasburg to save a young player’s arm instead of blowing it out in a game of craps.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:20:57 +0000

Jack Z is still the GM of Seattle unless they fired him this year and I missed it.

By: natslady

natslady — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:13:09 +0000

You could be right. But as a smart person, I vote for smart people. The world is not built for smart people, and that’s sort of sad. True, but sad.