The Riggleman Age will probably still suck 14.June.09

As a long suffering Nats transplant (after nearly 30 years as a long-suffering Phillies-native), I’m thrilled to be in a town where the baseball team is so unbelievably bad that they are forced to fire their manager, because honestly it cannot really get worse than this.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports caught a scoop on Saturday from MLB sources that Manny Acta’s on his way out. (Because I don’t patronize News Corp sites, I didn’t see the news/rumor until today via DCist.)

Only one word came to mind upon seeing the Tweet: FINALLY.

It’s been crystal clear that Acta’s move into the managerial role was a bad, bad move from the Lerner/Kasten/Bowden squad. What’s less clear is how much of an improvement Jim Riggleman will be. Putting a little math to the problem, the short answer is: not much.

The Rosenthal item says that Acta will be fired sometime “this week”. My bet is upon the conclusion of the Nats – Yankees series. The Nats were destined to lose this triad since the first fusion reaction in the Sun, and Kasten & Rizzo don’t want to saddle their new manager with an 0-3 record before his first week is over. So I’m betting on a headline out of Nats Park first thing Friday morning. (If the move is made tomorrow, it will be interesting to see the reaction if the Nats do manage to take one from the surging Yanks in their teeny-tiny new ballfield.)

Riggleman has an MLB record of 522-652 as a manager (.445). The Nats are currently 16-45, with 101 games remaining. They’ll most likely be 16-48 by the time Friday morning rolls around. Assuming that the Nats under a Riggleman regime win exactlyan average number of games under Riggleman, the Riggleman Nats of 2009 will have a 44-54 record for the rest of the season. They close with just under 100 losses, which is an improvement over last year, and Riggleman gets an extension in the off-season.

Will it happen this way? Probably not. Riggleman has way less to work with in terms of personnel than he ever did in SD, SEA or CHC. We’re definitely headed for another 100+ loss season. The only real question is, will it be any better than the 120 losses we’re on pace to do this year. And the answer to that is yes. And that’s enough reason to celebrate.

The only other question is: can the Riggleman Nats avoid being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs before Labor Day. All Signs Point To No. Because I am your magic 8-ball of Love.