Sunday, August 3, 2008

Are the Nationals Auditioning Rizzo?

One of the knocks on Mike Rizzo as a GM candidate is that he's not very media savvy. As I've said, I couldn't really care less about this--I don't think PR is very hard when you're putting a winning team on the field. And I've had about enough of a GM who's as concerned about his press clippings as Bowden is. But PR is part of the job, and Rizzo isn't considered a very good media spokesperson.

So what should we make of the fact that Rizzo, who I can't remember ever really appearing in the press, has been on MASN and on Charlie and Dave both in the last couple days? (And from what I've seen, the criticism of him is valid by the way--dude doesn't have the gift of gab. Though he didn't insult anyone either, so that's good.)

This is totally baseless conjecture, but between the two Arizona farm-hands we've acquired at the deadline and Rizzo's increased media profile, it feels like Rizzo's role is being elevated.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You may have a point. God knows the Nats could use a credible GM who's not a loose cannon, although PR skills wouldn't hurt a bit.

If Rizzo can cultivate the trust of other GMs, AKA trading partners, he'd be an immense improvement upon the incumbent. At worst, perhaps there's someone else in the FO, or someone could be hired, who could do the slick talk to the media while Rizzo exercises leadership at a quieter, more behind-the-scenes level.