Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was in the news this morning for all the wrong reasons.
Rizzo was discussing what a potential Juan Soto trade would look like, as it seems inevitable now that Soto is going to be traded before the official deadline on August 2.
Many have speculated that a potential Soto deal would also include the Nationals offloading the contract of Patrick Corbin, which has turned out to be quite a bad investment, as the 33-year-old is 4-13 with a 6.02 ERA.
But when asked about that, Rizzo made a controversial statement, saying that the Nationals wouldn’t “dilute” a great trade package by throwing a “bad contract” in the deal.
Chelsea Janes tweeted what Rizzo had to say this morning.
"We're not going to dilute the return for any player by including a bad contract," Rizzo said, when @JunksRadio asked him about throwing the Corbin contract into another deal at the deadline.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) July 27, 2022
Rizzo Chooses Poorly
This is not a good look for Rizzo.
While the Corbin deal has turned out to be a bust thus far, it’s still not right for Rizzo to throw him under the bus like that.
If anything, that might make Corbin want to leave Washington and hope that he gets traded at the deadline.
This just gives Rizzo and the Nationals a bad look and makes it seem like he doesn’t value Corbin in any way, shape, or form.
We know Corbin is more than capable of turning things around and returning to being the All-Star caliber pitcher he once was.
But to single him out like that is wrong.
Corbin is still a part of the Nationals and should be treated with the respect that every player deserves from the organization, even though the contract has not panned out for the Nats thus far.
Rizzo is likely going to get a ton of backlash for this, as he should.
NEXT: Juan Soto Is Already Being Pitched To Like An All-Time Great
Mongo7 says
Really, poor Patrick Corbin getting 25 million to go 4 and 12 with an ERA North of 6.0. One thing I like about Rizzo is he is honest and straight to the point. If Corbin’s feewings are sooo hurt then do something about it! Last I saw the same hurt Patrick gave up 6 runs in the 1st inning in LA.
You mentioned Patrick is more than capable to turn things around…where in the past 3 seasons have we seen anything in the realm of turning things around? We got one good season out of 4 so far and he’s still getting paid WELL!
Kick rocks, he’s a professional MLB player and if he’s called out for horrible pitching then he should be. If he was 11-1 with a 1.75 ERA I’m quite sure he would want an extension and a bigger contract.
I’m so tired of this Participation Trophy generation and their “don’t say mean words about an under producer” attitude!
PhuBai67 says
Agree. It’s up to Corbin to turn things around. Two bad years and he is still going out every fourth day!