Cal Ripken Should Manage The Nationals If They Offer Him The Job
Wait what? Blasphemy, Banks!
Hear me out. With Matt Williams concocting an impressive disaster in DC this season, the rumors are starting to fly again. Just like two years ago when the Nats gig was open, Cal’s name has been brought up as a potential managerial candidate in DC. And if the Nats smarten up and decide to offer him the gig, he should take it. And Peter Angelos is why.
It kinda goes under the radar, but the Orioles organization and Cal don’t have a great relationship at this point. You won’t find him at Camden Yards unless there’s an event in his honor. And you can point the finger at Peter Angelos for that one, just like every other problem when it comes to Orioles baseball. Cal was interested in a front office role a few years back and Angelos put the kibosh on it, saying he didn’t want Cal to get all the credit for when the O’s returned to prominence (and here we are, sort of, and Angelos has deservedly gotten no credit and is THE reason for the “sort of”). He didn’t even want that serious a role. He just wanted to be able to give back and provide some input in the organization that he had already given so much to over the years, and Stinky Pete said no. So who is Cal to sit around and wait for Angelos to die? He owes the Angelos and the Orioles organization nothing if they’re going to slam the door right in his face. It’s a situation that sucks for us as fans but it’s the truth. The “fuck Peter Angelos” life is one that we’ve become accustomed to, and this is no different.
Whether or not Cal wants to be a big league manager or have a front office role elsewhere is beyond me, but it’s obvious that the Nationals need somebody with even a semblance of a baseball brain as their manager. He clearly has that, and he’s probably the most respected character in recent baseball memory. It’s a rare circumstance where I’d put the happiness of one person over the betterment of my own team, but this is clearly a fitting one. We have our Buck Showalter, we have our Dan Duquette (for now), so we shouldn’t be mad or outraged as Baltimore fans if Cal goes for it in DC. It’ll feel all wrong and probably make me puke, but if that’s what Cal wants, that’s what he should do.