Tag: Mike Rizzo

Umpire Joe West on ejecting Nats GM: ‘If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too’

A weird ejection from a game on Sunday.

Veteran umpire Joe West has already made headlines in 2020 for his views about COVID-19 — in July, he spoke about how he thought the statistics about the virus weren’t “accurate.”

On Sunday, he was once again in the news for a bizarre ejection during a Washington Nationals loss to the Atlanta Braves: he tossed Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, who was sitting in a luxury suite.

Initially, it was thought that he ejected Rizzo for not wearing a mask while sitting in one of Truist Park’s upper deck, but it turns out that West had heard enough of Rizzo’s remarks that he could hear in a mostly empty stadium.

From the Associated Press:

The 67-year-old West, on track to set the record for most games umpired in big league history next year, said the crew told the commissioner’s office Friday that Rizzo was hollering at umpires earlier in the Nationals-Braves series.

“We informed the office that if it continued we’d stop it,” West said. “And we did.”

West also had this to say, which has ignited all kinds of opinions on social media: “I wouldn’t take that from a player. I wouldn’t take that from a manager. If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too. But I’d still vote for him.”

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Nationals GM put the World Series trophy in his window to honor Opening Day

Mike Rizzo is flexing on us and it’s the best.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo put the World Series trophy up in the window of his home to pay homage to what should’ve been Major League Baseball’s opening day.

Or at least that’s what he wants y’all to think. Don’t you believe that. Not for one second. Because, let me tell you, I know a grade A flex when I see one. And, buddy, this is a grade A flex. And a flex that we should all be able to truly appreciate.

In sports, we always seem to want our idols to be humble — especially in baseball. But you know what? Humility stinks. It’s boring. We’re all stuck in the house right now and bored already as is. We don’t need more boring.

What we need is this. I bet you he hopes the Astros saw this tweet.

This is an ever-so-subtle way of calling the rest of baseball’s losers. And it’s amazing. Shoutout to Mike Rizzo for bringing the fun back even when we don’t have any games being played.

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Redskins’ path to becoming NFL contender starts with being honest with fanbase

Mike Rizzo built the Washington Nationals into a Championship-winning team, and he lays out the blueprint for the Redskins to do the same.

If you’re a fan of Washington sports, it’s likely you know the names Mike Rizzo, and Dan Snyder. Rizzo was one of the top general managers in Major League Baseball in 2019, leading the Washington Nationals to their first World Series Championship.

Snyder…well we all know how Snyder’s last year has gone.

Rizzo reached the pinnacle of success this past season by sticking to his values and committing to his roster. Now, with the 2020 MLB season set to get underway in the coming months, the Nationals will be looked at as one of the premier teams in the sport, with a good shot to make another title run. In a perfect world, the Redskins would be on a similar path to success, and Rizzo thinks that success can be realized.

Ahead of Super Bowl LIV, Rizzo sat down with the Redskins Talk podcast to talk about what Snyder can do to better improve his team, not from a roster standpoint, but from the ownership and executive level. His advice started with being transparent and honest with the fanbase.

“It’s very difficult. It’s more difficult towards the fan base,” Rizzo explained, via NBC Sports Washington. “With them, we were honest and upfront and kind of mapped out what our blueprint was for how we were going to develop this thing. From that day on we had a blueprint and a plan of how to do this. When I took over as GM in 2009, we started implementing the plan.”

You could argue that the Redskins have started this process. As 2019 came to a close, it seemed that Snyder finally started to realize that a bright future couldn’t be realized in Washington while Bruce Allen was still in the building. Snyder’s firing of Allen, along with Head Trainer Larry Ness, signified that he is aware that change is needed in order for the team to move forward. His hiring of Ron Rivera — a two-time Coach of the Year — further strengthened the belief that it’s a new day in Washington.

“Sometimes you have hiccups and take steps sideways or even take steps backward,” he said. “Ownership better be on board, you better have their support, they better have the blueprint in front of them and believe in the dream. And you better have the personnel in the front office and the decision-makers to make sometimes scary decisions. You can’t be afraid to make big decisions and bold decisions to accomplish big things.”

If it happened with the Nationals, it can happen with the Redskins. It may not seem likely now, but in 5-years’ time, there is a scenario where the Redskins can join the ‘Title Town’ narrative that is starting to grow in Washington. It starts with keeping the fans involved and aware of what’s going on at the base level.

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WATCH: Nationals GM Mike Rizzo responds to backlash over White House visit

One week after the Washington Nationals visited the White House as honorees following their 2019 World Series Championship, team General Manager Mike Rizzo responded Monday to the backlash over the visit.

One week after the Washington Nationals visited the White House as honorees following their 2019 World Series Championship, team General Manager Mike Rizzo responded Monday to the backlash over the visit.

“We weren’t trying to make a political statement, whatsoever,’’ general manager Mike Rizzo told USA TODAY Sports in a wide-ranging conversation about the club’s crucial offseason. “We just thought that the honor and the tradition of champions being invited to the White House and the office of the president, and especially us being the hometown team in their backyard two miles away from the capital, is something that should be done.

“Obviously, each player could make their own decision whether they wanted to attend, but most of the players were excited by it.”

Most memorably, catcher Kurt Suzuki put on a “Make America Great Again,” hat when he took the podium and president Donald Trump hugged him from behind in response.

Rizzo said that the team was “damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” in regard to accepting the invitation from the president following the Nats’ first world championship, adding that he is a registered Independent and that he votes in every election for who he wants.

“The office of the president is something that we respect,” Rizzo said. ‘We felt we should be there. We also felt we should do it with everyone still in town there, or not do it at all.”

Nationals GM Mike Rizzo responds to backlash over White House visit

One week after the Washington Nationals visited the White House as honorees following their 2019 World Series Championship, team General Manager Mike Rizzo responded Monday to the backlash over the visit.

One week after the Washington Nationals visited the White House as honorees following their 2019 World Series Championship, team General Manager Mike Rizzo responded Monday to the backlash over the visit.