GM promoted to Exec. VP, gets 5-year extension
The Nationals have promoted general manager Mike Rizzo to executive vice president of baseball operations and signed him to a five-year contract extension.
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The move comes as team president Stan Kasten finishes his time with the organization. Long a link between Rizzo and the Lerner Family, which owns the team, Kasten announced his resignation last month.
“That bridge to ownership will be gone,” Rizzo said. “There really hasn’t been a shortage of my stamp on the organization. I do believe that with the new responsibility, the new title and the new job description it will be my baby and my fingerprints all over the organization even more than they are already.”
In his first full year as general manager, Rizzo’s club improved from 59 wins to 69 wins. He took over on an interim basis in March of 2009 when Jim Bowden was fired amidst a prospect scandal in the Dominican Republic. Rizzo was hired full time in August of 2009. In the last two years he successfully completed high-profile negotiations with No. 1 overall draft picks Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. He also signed star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to a five-year contract extension in April of 2009 and overhauled the front office with his own team of scouts and executives.
“You look back at all the successful organizations in baseball and they have continuity and consistency throughout, a constant theme and philosophy from the highest levels to the lowest levels,” Rizzo said. “And I think that’s what we have here.”
