The Nationals on Saturday guaranteed the "immediate future of their team’s architect by picking up the two-year option" on President of Baseball Operations & GM Mike Rizzo’s contract, keeping him in DC through '18, according to James Wagner of the WASHINGTON POST. Rizzo’s contract "had a June 15 deadline." and while terms "were not disclosed, the option is reportedly worth $2.5M annually. Rizzo first took over the GM role in March '09 (WASHINGTON POST, 5/15). In DC, Thom Loverro noted "few doubted" that the Lerner family, which owns the Nationals, "would do anything but retain the 57-year-old Rizzo, "but they let the decision to keep him hang until about a month before" the deadline. Now everyone in the organization "can breathe a sigh of relief, because while the expectations were that the Lerners would agree to the option, owners can be an unpredictable lot." Rizzo said, "I never really thought it was that big of a question. I felt it was more of a timing thing. The relationship I have with Mr. Lerner specifically and the rest of the family is great." He added, "They feel comfortable that I will be around for the long term. It does reverberate throughout the organization, and I think there is a sense of relief that is it behind us" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/15).
PROOF IN THE NUMBERS: In DC, Thomas Boswell writes it is "hard to measure the value" of a GM "with any great exactitude." But "it is easy to get a general sense of the size of that contribution." In the case of Rizzo and his organization, that picture "is stunning" and it is the reason the Nationals "not only will be competing for an NL East crown this year but probably" in '17 and '18 as well. Rizzo since '09 "has made trades that have ... brought about 25 extra wins to the Nats above what might be expected of an average GM who cancels a good trade with a bad one." Rizzo since '07 also "has been the man most responsible for the Nats’ draft record" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/16).
