WASHINGTON — Nationals manager Jim Riggleman resigned Thursday, saying he felt the franchise wasn’t committed to him.
Riggleman quit because the Nationals weren’t prepared to pick up the option on his contract for next year, further reinforcing his feeling that he was merely a placeholder manager until the team could find someone better.
“It’s been brewing for a while,” Riggleman said in a clubhouse that went from festive to stunned after completing a sweep of the Mariners. “I know I’m not Casey Stengel, but I do feel like I know what I’m doing. It’s not a situation where I felt like I should continue on such a short lease.”
General manager Mike Rizzo said he will announce today who will manage the team this weekend during a road series against the White Sox.
Riggleman has been working on one-year deals since taking over for Manny Acta in July 2009. He was being paid $600,000 this year, and the Nationals held a team option for 2012 at $600,000.
The Nationals have won 11-of-12 and are above .500 this late in the season for the first time since 2005.
Footnotes.
The authors of the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball were ordered to give seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens more of the evidence they used to accuse him of using steroids and human growth hormone in advance of next month’s perjury trial in Washington, D.C.
• A federal judge gave prosecutors more time to decide whether home run record-holder Barry Bonds should face another perjury trial.
• Mets third baseman David Wright (back) has been cleared to resume workouts and could rejoin the team in three weeks.
The Associated Press
