Nationals turned the MLB draft into a high-stakes job interview

USA Today

6 days ago

In six days, the Washington Nationals will be making the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 MLB Draft. On Sunday, the team fired general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez.
Odd timing to say the least.
In a statement, team owner Mark Lerner said assistant GM Mike DeBartolo will oversee the draft as assistant GM. 'This is a pivotal time for our Club, and we believe a fresh approach and new energy is the best course of action for our team moving forward,' the statement said.
As necessary as a change might've been, it's too bad Lerner didn't come to that realization sometime before the Nationals racked up the second-most losses in the majors over the last six seasons.
With this decision at this time, Lerner is leaving one of the team's most pivotal decisions to someone whose future is undefined — and giving him exactly a week to prepare for maybe the most high-stakes decision he's ever made. Considering the state of the franchise, DeBartolo can't afford to get this wrong, in a draft that doesn't have a no-brainer prospect at the top. No pressure, though.
There is a flip side to this for DeBartolo: He's getting an on-the-fly audition for one of the 30 coveted major league GM jobs. But the way he got here won't allow for a very comfortable seat regardless of how much he impresses.
Rizzo and Martinez won a World Series just six years ago. Then, for reasons out of their control, the Nationals stopped spending. It's been an exodus of stars from Washington since that 2019 title. The trade of Juan Soto at least netted them 2025 All-Stars James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, and 2024 All-Star CJ Abrams, but the team's frugality the last few years hasn't allowed the Nats to capitalize on that young core finally breaking out. Which is probably what Rizzo was hinting at in a text to the Washington Post's Barry Svrluga.
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'That's the job. I had a great run. Navigated that ownership group for almost 20 years,' the text read.
Now, it's DeBartolo's ownership to navigate. That starts with the draft. Good luck. He's going to need it trying to build a winning team with an ownership group with tight pockets and no vision.
USMNT heartbreak
The U.S. men's national soccer team at least gave itself a shot, reaching the Gold Cup final where it met Mexico on Sunday. And early on, things were looking up for the U.S. after jumping out to a 1-0 lead on Chris Richards' header in the fourth minute.
Then, it was all Mexico from there, as El Tri dominated possession and went on to a 2-1 victory on a goal from Raúl Jiménez in the 27th minute and the winner from Edson Álvarez in the 77th, confirmed by VAR.
The win clinched back-to-back Gold Cup titles for Mexico, which also snapped a streak of three straight losses to the U.S. in tournament finals. It's the first time the U.S. has gone consecutive Gold Cups without a title since Mexico went back-to-back in 2009 and 2011.
There is a silver lining, of course, for the USMNT in that it wasn't fielding its best lineup, with Christian Pulisic and other key players opting out of the tournament, which allowed for others to gain this experience and hopefully grow from it. That's certainly the expectation as we build toward the World Cup in the U.S. next summer.
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