(ed. note - "I've been collecting these for the last week or so, and thought it might be a good idea to publish them all in one place. It's looking more and more like "Acting" DC GM Mike Rizzo will not be named the Nationals' full-time GM, as reports continue to surface about the Nationals search for a full-time general manager...that is, if you believe 'anonymous sources' and Tweets...")
• Mixed Signals About Mike Rizzo...DC GM Rumors Continue...
I wrote the other day about, Baseball Prospectus' writer Will Carroll's, tweet regarding the Washington Nationals' GM job, where Mr. Carroll wrote:
"Hearing that Nats offered GM job to someone and got turned down. Rizzo should have that job already, but if true, sets up weird winter."
The only mention of Washington's continued search for a full-time GM that I could find at the time was in MLB.com's Bill Ladson's 7/23/09 interview with Nationals' "principal owner" Mark Lerner entitled, "Q&A with Nationals owner Mark Lerner", where Mr. Lerner was quoted stating:
"We have a responsibility to conduct a proper search for both positions, (Manager and GM) and that may entail going beyond our own gates. We will not be rushed or pressured into a decision that so significantly affects our future. In the end, whoever is appointed manager and general manager, they will be the best."
Now, according to SI.com's Tom Verducci's the search is narrowing, as Mr. Verducci writes, in the "Quick Notes" section of an article entitled, "Halladay will be traded, and Philly's a perfect fit now", that an anonymous source tells him:
"Arizona director of scouting and player personnel Jerry DiPoto has emerged as a frontrunner for the Washington Nationals general manager job..."
Wow, that's pretty specific? Mr. DiPoto's name, of course, comes up in any discussion of an open GM position, along with Tony LaCava's and Kim Ng's, so this isn't too much of a surprise, but the timing, considering the franchise should be focused on two important approaching deadlines is certainly odd...Will Mike Rizzo be able to make any deals before Friday? Will the Nationals actually name a new GM mid-season? If not, why are these rumors surfacing now?
And why can't DC just keep Mike Rizzo?
• Rizzo: Still A Longshot For Fulltime? (from 7/31)
No word on whether today's move had any impact on the Nationals' GM search, but while Mr. Rizzo was working on trading Nick Johnson and Joe Beimel away, USA Today Sports writer Bob Nightengale, was reporting, via his twitterfeed, that:
"The Nats meanwhile have narrowed their GM candidates to two or three. Mike Rizzo, unfortunately, appears to be a longshot."
To Be Continued...