Mike Rizzo has made some unfortunate headlines as of late.
The Washington Nationals general manager is under a bit of fire for a few things.
First, the Nationals organization made it seem as if Juan Soto had turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract extension without including some major points.
Next, Soto wasn’t chartered a flight to Los Angeles for the All-Star festivities.
But it doesn’t stop there.
This morning, Rizzo made some more headlines when he suggested that the team wasn’t responsible for the leaks about the contract extension, essentially throwing Soto under the bus.
He also said that if they were going to trade Soto, they weren’t going to include Patrick Corbin in the deal, as they didn’t want a “bad contract” to lessen their return.
Nationals insider Jesse Dougherty recapped everything on Twitter.
Of note, among other things:
– Mike Rizzo is adamant the team did not leak 15 years and $440 million to The Athletic, as Juan Soto has suggested multiple times with frustration.
– Rizzo says they won't attack a bad contract (Patrick Corbin) if it means lessening the return.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 27, 2022
A Bad Look
This is a bad look for Rizzo and the Nationals.
This whole PR mess really is his fault.
The fact that the details of the contract extension offer got leaked shows that there was poor security on the Nationals part in terms of trying to keep that secret.
He also isn’t taking responsibility for his mistake, which makes it even worse.
He seems to be blaming Soto almost.
Then, with the comments this morning, he essentially threw Corbin under the bus.
Granted, Corbin has not performed up to expectations, but that doesn’t make it right for Rizzo to throw him under the bus like that.
He’s basically sending a bad message to Corbin by saying that he would lessen their return if they were to trade Soto.
This was not a good move on Rizzo’s part, and he’ll rightfully draw a ton of criticism for it.
NEXT: Nationals GM Throws A Big Name Under The Bus