Manny deserved better...

Nationals manager Manny Acta's tenure in the dugout is nearing its end...according to Fox Sports baseball insider Ken Rosenthal the Nats skipper will be replaced by bench coach Jim Riggelman in the near future--(unfortunately Rosenthal's clairvoyance did not involve an exact timetable). The eventual end will be unfortunate but necessary at the same time...

Lets lead off by saying the current situation is not entirely Acta's fault. He was betrayed by a front office that let its most dynamic player (Alfonso Soriano) depart the winter before he took over and seemed interested in keeping ex-Reds employed (Wily Mo Pena, Austin Kearns). Even when correct moves were made they were unable to compensate for other weaknesses: Adam Dunn's acquisition unfortunately has been whitewashed by a bullpen that is hands down one of the worst in recent memory (15 blown saves leads the big leagues).

A relief corps can often be compared to a combination lock: quality bullpens plan for two innings from a long-reliever...followed by an eighth inning setup man...followed by a closer for the ninth (although some teams will have the closer pitch the last out of the eighth). If everything clicks and turns correctly, you have a saved game. But if you go clockwise instead of counter clockwise... stop too soon or go too far... there's no opening the safe. Manny's tried a slew of combinations-- and nothing's really worked.

The leaky pen's not helped by a deficient defense...the Nats fielders lead the majors with 60 errors (Christian Guzman the leader with 8--and three are tied with 7) and make a slew of other fielding mistakes that result in hits--sometimes the Nats have the look of the Chico's Bail Bonds Bears before Kelly Leak joined up.

Baseball managers are hired to be fired and have a limited shelf-life (see the Orioles)--even in massive rebuilding movements (which this franchise has been in since they played games in San Juan). Randy St. Claire's departure at the beginning of the month was the first shot fired in the final days of the Acta regime...and the Nats are 3-8 since then. Acta's been a class act in DC and will easily find employment as somebody's third-base coach...while the new brain trust will shake things up with a new plan. Time only knows if this will be the start of something special as opposed to another ride on the managerial merry-go-round...but Manny Acta's tenure has reached its conclusion.