Wire Taps: Can you blame Mike Rizzo?; Improving the Nationals’ rotation; Bob Miller out as Assistant GM

So, the Athletics lost, and Blake Treinen looked human again. Everything, somehow, hurts.

Here’s the news from D.C.:

What’s to blame for the Nationals’ lost season? Part III: Mike Rizzo and the front office (WaPo)
Rizzo, the Post argues, erred by not strengthening a rotation that was clearly a weak spot in hindsight and by confidently supporting a bullpen prone to injury from the start. Moreover, the way he treated his team — and then dismantled it — leaves a lot of questions.

Bob Miller will not return next season as Nationals' assistant general manager (WaPo)
Miller, who was a high-paid and highly-important member of the baseball ops team, with much input on contracts and logistics, won't be back for the team's most consequential offseason in its history.

MLB blasts the unwritten rules of its own sport in new ad (WaPo)
In case anyone was wondering where MLB stood in the great bat flip debacle.

Nats must find way to improve rotation, internally and externally (MASN)
It's excruciatingly clear: the Nats need someone behind Scherzer not named Erick Fedde, Jefry Rodriguez, Jeremy Hellickson, or Tanner Roark to take some weight off Stephen Strasburg. They could come from the farm system, or they could come from outside — really, the team should focus on making sure both are present.

The career of Ryan Zimmerman (Minor League Ball)
Zimmerman has been in the Majors since Federal Baseball has been on the internet. But what was he like as a prospect?