Mike Rizzo intends to see Davey Johnson as manager for Washington Nationals next year - MLB News
While the Washington Nationals progress toward claiming the Division Championship, the issue of whether Davey Johnson returns next year as manager or not invites attention. Nationals’ General Manager Mike Rizzo has unambiguously declared that he will stay
with the organisation for 2013.
Johnson has been part and parcel of the thumping success of the Nationals this year. He has worked closely with young players and has helped them develop skills and fine-tune their techniques. Some of the players who were low on confidence before the season
have been nurtured and transformed into formidable batters.
He has comprehensively addressed issues and contrived contingency plans which helped the club stay competitive even when injuries surfaced.
His inspirational leadership has now brought the Nationals on the verge of winning the Division title. Johnson is least complacent as can be realised from his penchant for achieving glory this year.
Irrespective of the celebrations after securing a place in the playoffs, he is focused on the challenges ahead. He is duly planning on how to use the players in the post-season and how he can draw top performances from them.
In light of the tremendous success, statement from the GM regarding his retention as manager for 2013 is not surprising.
Rizzo talks about great working relationship that he has developed with Johnson. He is happy prolonging his professional journey with him.
He discusses the time when Johnson took over as manager and how it was easy to select him for this job as and when the need arose.
"It's no coincidence that the day I became the interim general manager Davey became special assistant to the general manager on a full-time basis," Rizzo said. "He was a resource for me through all the early times and the early decisions we made and he was
a comfortable guy to have in Spring Training to bounce things off of and he was the easy choice for me when we had to make a change at the major league level."
Johnson has certainly ensured the Nationals experience those moments they have not enjoyed in years. It will be interesting to see how he keeps his success with the Nationals going.
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