After search, Riggleman is the Nats’ man – The Post
Nationals’ Zimmerman earns first Gold Glove – The Wash. Times
Nationals keeping Riggleman as manager – The Wash. Times
In seemingly another PR blunder, the Washington Nationals stepped on the news of Ryan Zimmerman‘s first gold glove win by announcing that Jim Riggleman would be retained as manager after serving in the role of the interim manager since the All-Star break last year. More on that later with some cocktail party suppositions.

Riggleman was solid if unspectacular as manager last year. The knock on him was the Nats ran too much on the basepaths with him in charge. There is also concern that he will abuse young arms too much as some believe he did in Chicago with Kerry Wood. If he can avoid that, he should be a solid caretaker manager. He’s also a Montgomery County, Md. native though that is not going to bring much buzz. They ought to try playing that up a little in the run up to the season.

Riggleman’s apparent competitor for the job was Bobby Valentine, recently managing in Japan and previously with the Mets and Rangers. He would have been the flashier and more expensive pick. His Japan ties could have been useful too, but as far as day-to-day, I don’t see that much advantage having Valentine right now since the team is a few years away at best.

The other news yesterday was Ryan Zimmerman being awarded the NL Gold Glove for third base. Zimmerman beat out San Diego Padres 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, who set a record for fielding percentage and had PR campaign created by his team on his behalf. Zimmerman had nearly 150 more chances than Kouzmanoff and according the Ultimate Zone Rating statistic, Zimmerman saved 18.1 runs over the course of the season to Kouzmanoff’s 7.5.

Zimmerman is only the second D.C. player to win a gold glove. In 1960, Earl Battey won the AL Gold Glove for catcher on the original Washington Senators. He won the next two with that franchise after it moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. He died in 2003. Let’s see if any of the papers put out an article on Battey.

Washington Nationals, Nats, Jim Riggleman, Ryan Zimmerman, gold glove