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Washington Nationals Agree to Contract Extension with GM Mike Rizzo

After weeks of conversation, the Washington Nationals and Mike Rizzo have agreed to a new contract extension. Rizzo is the General Manager and President of Baseball Operations.
Brady Farkas|
Washington Nationals Agree to Contract Extension with GM Mike Rizzo
Washington Nationals Agree to Contract Extension with GM Mike Rizzo

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Washington Nationals

After weeks of conversation, the Washington Nationals and Mike Rizzo have agreed to a new contract extension.

Rizzo is the General Manager and the President of Baseball Operations.

We had heard for weeks that the team was close to extensions with both Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez. The Martinez deal came together fairly quickly but Rizzo's deal lagged behind - now it's done.

Per the release from the Nationals:

“Mike and I have talked and worked with each other almost daily for 17 years. Together with my family and the entire Nationals staff, we’ve always shared the same dream: to make the Washington Nationals a team that our fans could love and be proud of,” said Washington Nationals Managing Principal Owner Mark D. Lerner. “We have all worked collectively to build what was essentially an expansion team with no Major League depth into a contender, and then into a World Series champion. We’ve experienced some tough losing seasons and we’ve hung championship banners, and we’ve done it all together.

“We are once again hard at work to build a championship contender in D.C. We now believe we have the beginnings of a roster filled with promising young players and exciting prospects at nearly every position. 

Both Martinez and Rizzo were at the helm of the Nationals' World Series title in 2019 (over the Astros) and have since overseen a rebuild that is starting to take hold. Though they are in last place in the National League East, they have been much better in the second half of the season and are 65-80 overall.

As part of the rebuild, Washington also boasts several young, exciting players including Keibert Ruiz, CJ Abrams, and MacKenzie Gore. They also acquired several other talented players when they traded Juan Soto, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.

They drafted national champion Dylan Crews out of LSU this year and have already promoted him to Double-A, another indication that the future is bright in D.C.

Rizzo has been the GM since 2015.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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