In Like Jim

(AP Photo. Jim Riggleman needs a new handle on Twitter. R.I.P. "Interim Jim". "Mr. Riggles" has a nice ring to it, no?)

Jim Riggleman, You're Hired

Good news for Jim Riggleman. Good news for the Nationals?

Just like our unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation kept saying, the Nationals have hired Jim Riggleman as permanent manager. Let's cut and paste Bill Ladson's words straight from MLB dot com:

The Nationals have decided to name Jim Riggleman the permanent manager, according to a baseball source. The news comes five months after he was named the interim skipper, replacing Manny Acta.

A news conference is scheduled for Thursday at Nationals Park.

And so, the "Bobby Valentine is a finalist for the job after an exhaustive search" smokescreen stories can be put to rest. Riggleman's selection speaks volumes about the long road that still lies ahead for this organization; maybe the most honest assessment yet; a confession that there's a lot of work yet to do. We'll fall in line with the "in Rizzo we trust" crowd on the hiring. And not just because Rizzo's not Jim Bowden.

Of course, Jim Bowden scooped everybody - his unnamed sources (not the same as our unnamed sources - his rhymes with Rike Mizzo) gave Jimbo the scoop earlier. And Jimbo Tweeted about it. Not that we'd know, since he won't let The Nationals Enquirer follow his Tweets.

Congrats, Mr. Riggles. Good luck. You'll need it.

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Comments

[Hendo]

Nice how they gave Zim all of 15 minutes of the spotlight to himself.

[The Nationals Enquirer]

Well, Hendo: nobody ever said this organization ever gets the timing right on anything :) But in this case, we'll take the double dose of (good?) news and move on...

Now, if your only complaint is the timing of the announcement - can we take that as a sign you're okay with Riggles as full time manager (haven't headed over to Nationals Pride yet to check your reaction yet...)?

We're just completely unsurprised he was the choice...

[ckstevenson]

@Hondo - This wasn't a hard announcement, it was more like a quasi-intentionally leaked announcement (I actually think it was a true leak).

Consider me nonplussed. There aren't too many major drawbacks to Jim (what's the new nickname???). I think Rizzo will put innings restrictions in place to limit the overuse of arms. But how the Desmond situation was handled gives me pause for concern. I look forward to spring training and lots of anonymous sources with no knowledge of the situation.

Go figure, the Nats are trending up while the Skins have almost hit rock-bottom... meanwhile a hockey team is the most popular franchise in DC. It's a crazy world we live in. The only consistency is Gilbert Arenas is hurt again...