The Nationals and GM Mike Rizzo (l) put their faith in age and wisdom, winning with MLB's oldest rostergetty images
The Nationals won the World Series in part because they "believed in the power of stars and showed a willingness to pay the premium that elite talent commands, while their peers opted for austerity," according to Jared Diamond of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. In an MLB landscape "rapidly skewing toward youth, the Nationals put their faith in age and wisdom, ending up with baseball's oldest roster." The Nats' strategy "led to a team that doesn't resemble any of their opponents beginning with their budget." They approached the $206M luxury tax threshold this year, and were "one of the few teams to pay the luxury tax" in '18. Nationals President of Baseball Operations & GM Mike Rizzo comes from a "different background than most of his peers," having followed a "traditional scouting trajectory to his position rather than arriving in baseball from management consulting ... or high finance." That career path makes Rizzo an "anomaly -- a lifetime baseball man running a front office," and his "philosophy to team-building reflects as much" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/1). In St. Louis, Derrick Goold writes the World Series title is an "immediate return on an aggressive investment." During a time when a "majority of teams shy from the volatility of aging pitchers, Washington didn't." The team's main offseason signing was committing $140M to 30-year-old P Patrick Corbin, while the "four starters they used in the World Series earned $93 million this year" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/1). Nationals P Sean Doolittle said the team "deserves credit for the way they put this team together." Doolittle: "It's a bunch of old guys in here that they trusted. There's not a lot of teams that were willing to put together a roster like ours" (AP, 10/31).
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: In DC, Adam Zielonka notes many saw the World Series as a "showdown of new-school vs. old-school." The Astros were MLB’s "poster boys of analytics, a franchise that fired many scouts a few years ago so they could rely more on technology." The Nationals were "set up as the contrast, the team that still employed the grizzled scout that could tell you when a prospect had trouble with the curve." However, in reality, Rizzo has "struck a balance, incorporating analytics into his decision-making with their own proprietary model they nicknamed 'The Pentagon'" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/1). Nationals 1B Ryan Zimmerman called Rizzo a "baseball guy" and said, "He leans on his scouts, on his guys that go watch games. He's evolved, just like everyone else has, with the analytics and all the data that's available. That information is useful. I don't think you have to be one way or the other. I think you can kind of blend it together. And I think he does a really good job of that" (AP, 10/31).
THE TOOLS TO SUCCEED: In DC, Chelsea Janes writes since Rizzo since taking over in '09 often has "projected an image of defiance." He has "spent years insisting that a few October bounces shouldn't undermine the legacy of his Nationals." Rizzo "surrounds himself with people he trusts, and then he lets them do their jobs." He "rarely makes the pundits' lists of genius GMs," and he "never developed the star power" of the Cubs' Theo Epstein or the innovative reputation of the Astros' Jeff Luhnow. However, front office execs "leading other teams always respected Rizzo," and many say "privately that he has one of the tougher jobs in baseball, in large part because the Lerner family is so deeply involved in the day-to-day decisions made around the team." Decisions "go through 'the family,' which means Rizzo must navigate far more voices and opinions than many of his colleagues." But the Lerners also have "invested more money in their roster than most ownership groups," and Rizzo has "always praised them for that" (WASHINGTON POST, 11/1).
CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE: In DC, Thomas Boswell writes sports columnists "exist to criticize team owners," but even a sportswriter can "probably join the general public in saying thanks to the Lerners, as well as 'you did real good'" (WASHINGTON POST, 11/1).
