Another Baseball Quitter

Earlier this week, I wrote about Edwin Rodriguez quitting as manager of the Florida Marlins. I couldn't remember a skipper walking out on a team after so short a tenure with no obvious push from his employer.

It's didn't take long for another manger to quit on his team. And Jim Riggleman's resignation from the Washington Nationals is even harder to figure. The Nationals, a perennial doormat, have been on a hot streak. They've won 11 out of 12 games and are above the .500 mark.

But, according to the club's GM, Riggleman was upset that the Nationals wouldn't extend his contract beyond this season. So he gave them and ultimatum. The team accepted his resignation rather than accede to his demand for the extension. (Riggleman says the only ultimatum was his wish to talk to the owner about an extension.)

Am I missing something? While I can understand the wish for job security, this could be a career killer for Riggleman. If he had stayed and the Nationals continued to play well he likely would have received a new contract. If the Nationals didn't want him around, surely another team would have jumped at the chance to hire a man who helped mold a young team into a group that plays hard and was on the rise.

If I was a general manger I would never hire Riggleman as a manager. I'd wonder if he was truly committed to the job and the team.

Maybe we really are becoming a nation of quitters. Politicians leave terms half finished; baseball managers quit even when their teams are doing well. Meanwhile, millions are begging for jobs and finding none available.

It really is hard to figure.

No Mas for Marlins' Manager

I don't recall a manager quitting in June the way Edwin Rodriguez abruptly left the Florida Marlins yesterday. It seems the club was as surprised as the fans must have been.

If club execs are to be believed, they were not considering making a change. (Although, the fact that there is no suggestion they tried to persuade the manager to stay might be a clue to how they really felt.) The Marlins are in a horrendous stretch (1-18 in June) after a good start. Injuries have a played a role in the team's poor play.

But for Rodriguez to quit without even the hint of a push from the front office is astonishing. He had experience in the minors as a manager and last year took over the Marlins as interim manager piloting them to a 46-46 record. He was the game's first Puerto Rican-born manager.

In a statement he praised the team for playing hard. He praised the organization. But he left anyway. One story had him quoted as saying he did what was best for the team.

Maybe that's the way the world works now. Politicians (like Sarah Palin) quit midterm without so much as a thought. Maybe it's the era I grew up in, but I think it shows a lack of character. Barring health problems or a family crisis, Rodriguez should have stuck it out and fought hard to turn the team around.

He must have fought hard to put himself in position to be a major league manager. I can't imagine working that hard and then just surrendering.

If he couldn't stick it out after a bad month, maybe he wasn't cut out to be a major league manager after all. Now Marlins fans can root for Jack McKeon to turn the team around like he did in 2003.