With the departure of Mike Rizzo Sunday evening, his job has fallen on an interim basis to top assistant Mike DeBartolo, who joined the team out of the finance world as an intern in 2012 and has stayed with the franchise since then - he’s never worked for another team. Now, that might give fans pause about both the rest of this season (with the top pick in the amateur draft happening Sunday and the trade deadline at the end of this month) and whether DeBartolo should even be considered as an option to replace his former boss on a permanent basis, which is fair. But the new interim GM does not fall from the same tree as, say, Kris Kline or Mark Scialabba, longtime Rizzo friends who would look right at home in the scene with all the old scouts from Moneyball.

There are reasons to believe that DeBartolo will be able to start nudging the Nationals - always a late adopter for newfangled ideas, gadgets, and doodads, thanks to both Rizzo and (more importantly) the Lerners - in a more modern direction and work to improve the team on the margins that have long been neglected.

First and perhaps most importantly is his background. DeBartolo is not a grizzled old scout but an early-forties economics major from a Little Ivy (Tufts) who also has an MBA from an Ivy Ivy (Columbia). He is likely to be far more analytically-minded than Rizzo there. Full disclosure; thanks largely to a mutual friend, I sat for an informational interview with him some years ago (when he was Director of Baseball Operations), and it was clear that he was interested in people with more technological and quantitative backgrounds. Perhaps he will get a chance to implement that data more strenuously (can anyone say defensive positioning?).

Second, DeBartolo was one of the chief architects of the Soto trade, which as unfortunate as it was to have to make was a necessary step at that time, and is paying rather large dividends for the Nationals in 2025. By “chief architect” I mean that he identified the Padres as a possible trade partner and the specific players involved as possible pieces to make such a deal work. Three years later, Soto is no longer a Padre, while four of the five prospects he and Josh Bell brought back have reached the majors - three as All-Stars at 26 or younger - and the fifth is a borderline top-fifty prospect currently in AA. This is just about a best case scenario for trading a future Hall of Famer in his early twenties; consider the Marlins and their return for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis - only Andrew Miller reached anywhere near his ceiling, and only then well after he had left the Marlins.

What are the ways in which DeBartolo might help the Nationals change their ways, and what will he even be allowed to do? Many people have brought up the weird timing of firing Rizzo right before the draft and the 1-1 pick that the Nationals have, but drafting and development was more of a flaw for Rizzo than a skill, and in any case draft prep is at least 98% complete by now; the numbers have to be worked out, but the Nats have winnowed their field to two or three names. DeBartolo might have some ideas, but I would guess that he allows Brad Ciolek the final call on Ethan Holliday vs. Kade Anderson vs. anyone else. Greater implementation of analytical data - an area where the Nats have lagged behind most of the sport for the entirety of their existence in Washington - is another way, specifically defensive positioning (the Nats have been bad at this for a while) as mentioned earlier but also optimizing platoon matchups, reliever usage, and player rest. Keibert Ruiz’s perennial over-usage is the worst culprit, but it is also worth pointing out that Nathaniel Lowe has played in all ninety games, and James Wood has yet to sit out a game since being called up a little over a year ago (169 consecutive games is pretty rare in MLB these days).

The biggest question mark is how DeBartolo will approach the trade deadline later this month, and what kinds of moves the Lerners - who famously vetoed a 2018 trade of Bryce Harper to the Astros - will allow him to make. I would presume that he is free to try and find takers for any of the true rentals (Kyle Finnegan being the most important name, but also Josh Bell, Amed Rosario, Michael Soroka, and Paul DeJong may have markets), and I’m sure that grace would also extend to Nathaniel Lowe or Luis García Jr., or Alex Call pending a post-break return to form from Dylan Crews. But will he be allowed - should he even so desire - to trade MacKenzie Gore? Gore is a 26-year-old burgeoning ace, but he is a free agent after 2027 and this June meltdown and fallout might set the rebuild - we no longer need to lie about it being a ‘retool’ - back past his free agency date (particularly if the Lerners continue to cosplay as Bob Nutting, owner of the Pirates). I doubt that DeBartolo would make such a trade in-season amidst all this upheaval, preferring to wait for the winter if he wants to do it at all…buuuuut, as discussed above he was one of the first people in the front office to accept the unthinkable and look into the possibility of a Soto trade, almost a year before it happened. We don’t know what we don’t know. I do not want to see Gore traded, but I have come to terms with the possibility that it may happen.

There was no game yesterday, as the Nats were hopefully enjoying some ribs and fried ravioli on their off-day in St. Louis. Jake Irvin will take the hill for the good guys tonight at 7:45 EDT against Andre Pallante.

Click here to see the probable pitching matchup for the upcoming series

I have to admit, I’m not overly thrilled with the choice of Miguel Cairo to slide one spot over on the bench for (presumably) the remainder of the season (I highly doubt that he will be retained beyond then. Cairo - like most of the coaching staff - is Davey’s buddy who won’t change much of the vibes or the culture, and the biggest way a new voice as the manager can help is in that regard. The most frustrating part of the 2025 Nats experience has been that despite a couple of huge breakouts from Wood and Gore, and a return to something near All-Star form from Abrams, the team as a whole continues to play sloppy baseball as they have for every year of Davey’s tenure, no matter the talent level. Poor base running, poor defense (especially up the middle - save Jacob Young and Dylan Crews in center - where it is most important), horrible first innings from starting pitchers, and lack of any kind of situational game plan at the plate are all squarely on the coaches, while failure to execute is on the players. I am not confident that Cairo changes any of that, certainly not if no other coaches are reassigned or let go.

That being said, the only other realistic option was AAA manager Matt LeCroy, who has underwhelmed with a Rochester team (31-53, even worse than their parent club) that started the season with practically a full roster of potentially viable MLB players. Ryan Zimmerman was not going to take a job that essentially only has downside risk for a franchise icon. Gerardo Parra has not covered himself in glory as a base running coach and has only a couple years’ coaching experience to begin with. Sean Doolittle, the other 2019 alum on hand, has even less experience as a coach/strategist, analytically minded though he may be (and while pitchers very, very rarely become managers, Doo began his professional life as a first baseman and outfielder with the A’s, eventually switching because of injuries). None of the other coaches have ties to the glory days or any evidence that they would make a good manager. So Cairo is what we get (for now).

Read More

📌 $54M Offseason Gamble, Draft Misfires, and Developmental Stagnation Force Leadership Overhaul (The Nats Report)

📌 Will the Real Cade Cavalli Please Stand Up (The Nats Report)

📌 Mintz on the Nats Being Left Behind (Yahoo!)

📌 Midseason Takeaways from Stark (The Athletic)

📌 Effect of Firing on Draft Pick (ESPN)