Manager Dave Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo were fired by the Washington Nationals on Sunday in moves that were surprising for their timing, even if the club is more than halfway through its sixth consecutive losing season since winning the 2019 World Series.
The team announced the changes just hours after Washington’s 6-4 loss at home completed a sweep by the Boston Red Sox. The Nationals are 37-53 and last in the NL East; the only National League club with a worse record is the Colorado Rockies.
But the amateur draft is just a week away, and Washington has the No. 1 overall pick.
Senior VP and assistant GM Mike DeBartolo is taking over for Rizzo on an interim basis. A replacement for Martinez wasn’t named immediately.
Washington could have exercised options to extend the contracts of both Martinez and Rizzo beyond this season.
“While we are appreciative of their past successes,” Nationals owner Mark Lerner said in a statement issued by the team, “the on-field performance has not been where we or our fans expect it to be. This is a pivotal time for our club, and we believe a fresh approach and new energy is the best course of action for our team moving forward.”
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was picked for his 11th All-Star Game and Paul Skenes, James Wood and Elly De La Cruz boosted the 23-and-under group to five when they were picked Sunday for the July 15 showcase at Atlanta’s Truist Park.
Wood at 22 is the youngest of the 65 All-Stars, while Skenes, De La Cruz and fan-elected starters Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jacob Wilson are all 23.
Cal Raleigh and Yoshinobu Yamamoto joined Wood, Wilson and Crow-Armstrong among 19 first-time All-Stars. Wood was acquired by Washington in the August 2022 trade that sent outfielder Juan Soto to San Diego.
“It’ll just be cool being around some of the best players in the game,” Wood said.
Kershaw last week became the 20th pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts and Commissioner Rob Manfred made the left-hander the 65th All-Star as a so-called Legend Pick, his first since selecting Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols in 2022 under a provision in the then-new collective bargaining agreement.
Kevin Durant’s trade to the Houston Rockets is official and officially record-setting.
The deal got approved by the NBA on Sunday as part of a seven-team transaction, one in which a slew of other trade agreements got folded into one massive package.
“Kevin impacts the game on both ends of the court and is one of the most efficient scorers in the history of basketball,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said. “We liked the growth our team showed last season and believe Kevin’s skill set will integrate seamlessly.”
Involved in the deal: Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Golden State, Brooklyn and the Los Angeles Lakers. It includes a total of 13 players — the headline moves include Durant going to Houston from Phoenix, the Rockets sending Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns, and the Rockets acquiring Clint Capela from the Hawks.
The seven-team involvement in the Durant trade tops the previous record, a six-team transaction last summer that most notably sent Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State — Thompson’s former team — obviously was another part of that trade, as were Charlotte, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Denver on varying levels.
