Nationals Fire Matt Williams, Should Look At Willie Randolph

WaPo.com:

Two years ago, the Washington Nationals hired Matt Williams as manager, eschewing experience for youth and energy. Believed to be on the verge of a deep playoff run, the Nationals — led by General Manager Mike Rizzo — wanted Williams, who had never managed in the major leagues, to lead them to the World Series.

But after winning the National League East title a year ago, the Nationals endured a tumultuous and disappointing 2015 season, missing the postseason and winning 13 fewer games than the year before. So on Monday morning — after much evaluation and conversations with players and team owners — Rizzo told Williams he would not return in 2016. 

“Really a tough day here at Nationals Park,” Rizzo said Monday afternoon in a conference call with reporters. “Tough day for me personally, a tough day for our entire organization, but these are the first of the decisions we have to make as we meticulously evaluate why the 2015 season didn’t go the way we hoped. It wasn’t our best year. It wasn’t Matt’s best year. It wasn’t my best year. As an organization, it wasn’t our best year.”

Even to a Mets fan like me, some of the decisions Williams made during the season, especially against us, weren't just mind-boggling but let's face it, really beneficial to the Mets. And even worse than Williams's decision-making were his explanations for them. And now with Williams gone, there's already plenty of talk on who should replace him: Cal Ripken Jr. (?!?), Bud Black, Dusty Baker, Larry Bowa, etc. But what about Willie Randolph? A guy with a NL East Division title and a 302-253 Won-Loss record on his resume who expressed earlier this year that he still has an itch to manage again. I mean, no disrespect to Ripken, but an Orioles icon managing the crosstown Nats just makes no sense. And other than Baker, the other names are just retreads with no real history of winning. The Nats should take a chance on Randolph.