Nationals Rumors: Washington considering Cal Ripken Jr as manager

The Washington Nationals fired Matt Williams on Monday and the team is already considering Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr as a replacement.

It didn’t take the Washington Nationals long at all to fire manager Matt Williams as soon as the season ended, as he was relieved from his duties almost as soon as the Nats could announce it on Monday morning. But now that Williams is gone — which is really of little surprise to anyone who was paying attention — the question of who will replace him becomes more pertinent.

One of those names being kicked around is Cal Ripken Jr.

According to Jon Morosi and Ken Rosenthal from FOX Sports, the Nationals are expected to include Hall of Fame infielder Cal Ripken Jr as a managerial replacement for Williams next season.

Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) | Twitter 2015-10-05 11-38-28 /

This brings up the much discussed question about whether or not great players can make great coaches and leaders. Michael Jordan is the greatest player in basketball history but has been a horrible leader in both Washington and Charlotte. Ditto for Wayne Gretzky who is the greatest hockey player to have ever played the game but couldn’t get the then Phoenix Coyotes to anything close to respectable.

Working in Ripken’s favor is the fact that former players from his generation have taken up managerial posts in baseball with great success. Don Mattingly is coaching the Dodgers to the postseason again while the Minnesota Twins were almost managed to the postseason by Paul Molitor.

There’s also no guarantee that the Nationals will indeed reach out to Ripken to replace Williams manager. The search is going to wide ranging to find the right guy, but Ripken is looking like an interesting early candidate.

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