Apparently the Naitonals were impressed by the way that Rizzo handled the Stephen Strasburg negotiations. The fact that the Nats got Strasburg signed for at least $6-7 million less than agent Scott Boras initial asking price bodes well for Rizzo.
Now Rizzo is really responsible for turning the fortunes of the worst team in baseball.
A major league source tells FanHouse "not so fast" on Jerry DiPoto becoming the Nationals' next general manager, as has been reported.
According to the source, acting GM Mike Rizzo -- who has been running the team since Jim Bowden resigned under fire during spring training -- did an impressive enough job in the negotiations to sign No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg (who will be introduced Friday at a news conference) that Washington ownership is still considering giving him the job permanently.
The Lerner family and team president Stan Kasten are keeping their intentions very close to the vest. But the Washington Post reported there are signs Rizzo will get the job.
WASHINGTON – To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft.
"We are thrilled to select someone with the special talents Stephen possesses," acting Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement. "Those talents have long been on our radar, and Stephen's domination at San Diego State and vast experiences gained with Team USA last summer have done nothing to change our thougts about his abilities."
About an hour before the Nationals made their pick, heavy showers began to fall on Washington. Was it one last sign that one of the most downtrodden franchises in baseball is headed for a new dawn?
Cabrera's career 5.09 ERA was just barely good enough to cling to a big-league roster for five seasons, but evidently not good enough to hold on for any longer. His moments of brilliance -- and he had a few -- were easily muted by his failures. I'm referring to his career in the past tense because frankly, I'm not sure whether we'll ever see him in the major leagues again. The worst team in baseball doesn't want him, and he isn't interested in reporting to the minors. Where does a guy like Daniel Cabrera go? What becomes of him?
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That David Ortiz pulled within one homer of Yovanni Gallardo on the MLB leaderboard. Yes, Big Papi finally hit a home run. It took him 149 at-bats to get his first homer of the season, while 318 other players had hit at least one -- including two by Gallardo, a Brewers pitcher -- but Ortiz got on the board with a fifth-inning homer, helping the Sox to a victory over Toronto.
Ortiz had been slumping so badly that manager Terry Francona benched him for the whole series last weekend in Seattle. Ortiz joked after hitting the homer on Wednesday that he was so desperate he was "about to hit right-handed."
Now that we're inside of three weeks to the MLB Draft, the Stephen Strasburg Drama is reaching a fevered pitch. Today, there are two separate stories from Jeff Passan and the Washington Post about just when Strasburg will make his big-league debut. In both stories, Nats' acting GM Mike Rizzo indicates that Strasburg will spend time in the minors after he's drafted.
That's not surprising news; FanHouse's Ed Price reported something similar earlier this month. What is surprising is the amount of people that expect to see Strasburg pitching in any sort of professional capacity this season. Strasburg is a Scott Boras client. Historical precedence suggests pretty strongly that Scott Boras clients don't do much playing in the year they're drafted.
Stephen Strasburg was No. 1 on the Nationals' draft board already, so his no-hitter Friday night did nothing to affect his status.
"He's at the top of our list as of right now," Washington acting general manager Mike Rizzo, who was at San Diego State on Friday as Strasburg no-hit Air Force, told FanHouse on Saturday. "We've got less than a month before the draft. He's a great talent."
Washington holds the top pick in next month's draft, and Rizzo has now seen Strasburg in person three times.
RIght now, there's no question who the top talent is going to be in this June's draft. Pitcher Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State was the consensus top prospect entering the season and in five starts this year, he's got 74 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings, allowing just 21 hits (16 of them singles) to go with his 1.57 ERA. If you're doing the math in your head, that means he's striking out more than one of every two hitters he faces.
On talent alone, Strasburg would picked by the Nationals with the first pick in June and no one would bat an eye. The drama comes from his agent, who of course is Scott Boras. Just like every other year, some outrageous claims are being attached to Boras right now in trying to determine what he's going to ask for when Strasburg is drafted. Peter Gammons has this report today (subscription required):
-- Seattle teammates Wladimir Balentien and Adrian Beltre couldn't play in this year's World Baseball Classic -- Balentien, a native of Curacao, because he is fighting for playing time and Beltre, a native of the Dominican Republic, because the Mariners forbid him.
But, as old friend Larry Stone points out, just because neither is playing doesn't mean Balentien has been sparing Beltre from trash talk in the wake of the Netherlands' shcoking elimination of the D.R.
If nothing else, the Nationals have been good for plenty of headlines over the past few days. Not all of them accurate, though.
WASHINGTON – To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher 
As Ed Price reported Wednesday morning, 
Starting Five
Now that we're inside of three weeks to the MLB Draft, the 
RIght now, there's no question who the top talent is going to be in this June's draft. Pitcher 
