You are here: Los Angeles Sports Washington Nationals Examiner

John Dugan

Washington Nationals Examiner
John covered sports for daily newspapers in the San Francisco suburbs for four years before moving to Washington, D.C. He wrote about the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's, and now he writes about the Washington Nationals just for you.

  

Examiner Feeds

These websites were picked by the Washington Nationals Examiner as useful resources.
Washington Nationals News - 9 hrs ago Washington Nationals News - 9 hrs ago Washington Nationals News - 23 hrs ago Washington Nationals News - 1 day ago Washington Nationals News - 2 days ago

Nationals Links

Other Sports Links

Washington DC Examiners

Michael Hoffman
Washington Capitals Examiner
Most Recent Post
Road warriors? Not exactly, for 'home happy' Caps
George Panagakos
Washington Wizards Examiner
Most Recent Post
Review: Wizards in November
Paula Cee
D.C. Pop Culture Examiner
Most Recent Post
Tina Fey is a covergirl
Mark Newgent
Washington Redskins Examiner
Most Recent Post
Week 13: Giants 23, Redskins 7
 
 

(i.e. Los Angeles hiking, Los Angeles parenting)

You're fired: Nationals dump all but one assistant coach

September 28, 10:20 PM
 
 

AP photo/Luis M. Alvarez
Clearly, when you lose 102 games and earn the No. 1 draft pick as the league's worst team, there's only one person to blame: the video coordinator. As Manager Manny Acta hinted at recently, the Nats fired every assistant coach Sunday except pitching coach Randy St. Claire. That includes hitting coach Lenny Harris, bullpen coach Rick Aponte, bench coach Pat Corrales, third base coach Tim Tolman and first base coach Jerry Morales, strength and conditioning coach Kazu Tomooka and video coordinator Tom Yost. Apparently, Nats officials were unsatisfied with all the tapes they had to watch of their team getting pounded this year.

Actually, I somewhat respect this decision from Jim Bowden and the front office. Normally the manager would get canned after two seasons like Acta has had. This housecleaning-from-the-bottom is a new tactic, and if it works you could see more teams follow suit. So I at least applaud Bowden's originality.

But doesn't this completely undermine Acta as a manager? All signs (and quotes) point to Acta not being pleased with the firings. Now he'll have to find an entirely new staff, one that may take a while to mesh as a leadership unit. The coaches really need to be on the same page for things to work smoothly. I'm not sure the Nats can afford an adjustment period for their coaches to get acquainted.

That said, it was clear some of the dismissals were warranted. Harris was a disaster as a hitting coach, as the Nats finished the year 28th in the majors in runs scored and 27th in batting average. Aponte deserved to go after the Nats managed just 28 saves all year, second worst in baseball.

But the video coordinator? The strength and conditioning coach? Color me confused. Bowden clearly has a better insight of the team than I do, but I don't see how the video coordinator could have contributed to this year's ugliness. Were the DVDs scratchy? Did Yost accidentally record over a scouting tape with episodes of "Mad About You"?

Whatever the reason, there will be a lot of new faces on the Nats' bench next year. If Bowden can also find some new faces who can actually take the field, the Nats might actually improve.

For more info: The Nats, of course, were swept as Philadelphia clinched the NL East; final 2008 statistics for the Nats; come back throughout the week for end-of-season awards and reviews.

Topics: Nationals , MLB , Links , Manny Acta , Coaches
   Subscribe   Feed
 
 

Comments

Name:  
Email Address:  
Comments:  

More from Washington Nationals Examiner

Redding to have surgery, and what that means for prospects

November 25, 11:44 AM
Slightly interesting news from the Nationals that righty Tim Redding, the team's wins leader last season, will have minor foot surgery Friday. The report says Redding should be ready by spring training, which is promising, but could be some PR spin.... Read More
Topics: Pitchers , Nationals , MLB , Tim Redding , 2009 Draft , Prospects , Odalis Perez , Hot Stove

Hot stove and other Nationals tidbits

November 20, 12:52 PM
There's little going on in Nationals land in terms of big or breaking news. Not a surprise, considering the time of year. But there are a number of fairly interesting if not franchise-altering things going on, so let's go to the ol' bullet point style... Read More
Topics: John Lannan , Nationals , MLB , Links , Free agents , Lastings Milledge , Hot Stove , Trades

If Nats can trade for Padres' Gonzalez, sell the farm

November 14, 1:06 PM
Nationals GM Jim Bowden has already made clear he attempts to remake the roster through trades and free agency. He got off to a great start by acquiring Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen from the Marlins for 12 peanuts and a bag of rosin. And he set his... Read More
Topics: Nationals , MLB , Padres , Free agents , Hot Stove , Trades , Adrian Gonzalez

Nationals acquire Willingham, Olsen from Marlins

November 11, 9:50 AM
Discussion of the Nationals' sartorial choices will have to wait, as the team has made a big splash by trading for the Marlins' OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen. This is the latest move in what many Nats fans hope will be a busy offseason, and... Read More
Topics: Pitchers , Nationals , MLB , Prospects , Hot Stove , Trades , Josh Willingham , Scott Olsen

Final grades: Nationals coaches

November 10, 12:31 PM
For better or worse, head coaches are often made to be the goat for their team's failures. When the Mets fired Willie Randolph earlier this year, it really came as no surprise, despite the fact that his team was comprised of over-the-hill veterans and... Read More
Topics: Nationals , MLB , Manny Acta , Coaches , 2008 Grades , Hot Stove

Bowden looking to bolster offense at GMs meeting

November 3, 8:07 PM
We take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to discuss something far more interesting than actual on-field performance: hot stove league!Today marks the beginning of the general managers' meetings in California. (They're like the winter... Read More
Topics: Nationals , MLB , Free agents , Hot Stove

Final grades: Nationals infielders

October 25, 1:24 PM
During this seemingly never-ending year-end grade report on the Nationals, I've covered many different areas of the team. Some groups graded above-average, some were mediocre and some were below average. But a team that loses 102 games certainly qualifies... Read More
Topics: Nationals , MLB , 2008 Grades , Ryan Zimmerman , Cristian Guzman

Final grades: Nationals outfielders

October 21, 4:22 PM
It's not news that the Nationals offense was abysmal in 2008. A .251 team batting average and an astounding .323 on-base percentage are completely indicative numbers of the team's offensive impotence. Breaking down offensive performance by position,... Read More
Topics: Nationals , MLB , 2008 Grades , Lastings Milledge , Elijah Dukes , Willie Harris

Final grades: Nationals relievers

October 8, 3:57 PM
Whereas the statistics for the Nationals' starting pitchers were somewhat deceiving in regards to the rotation's effectiveness, the stats are a great picture of what the bullpen managed this year. The relief corps was by no means spectacular, but it... Read More
Topics: Pitchers , Nationals , MLB , Joel Hanrahan , Prospects , Garrett Mock , 2008 Grades , Mike Hinckley