Nationals fire Matt Williams and coaching staff

After a season that ended woefully short of championship expectations, the Washington Nationals will search for a new leader for 2016 after firing manager Matt Williams this morning, according to a report from The Washington Post.

General manager Mike Rizzo made the difficult decision less than two years after handpicking Williams, who had never managed in the majors before, to direct the Nationals' highly talented roster after Davey Johnson departed following the 2013 season.

The Nationals won a National League-best 96 games and an NL East crown a year ago, advancing to the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. But they bowed out early in October, losing to the Giants in four games in the NLDS.

Williams, the NL Manager of the Year, was criticized nationally for his decisions in the playoffs last year with specific focus on questionable bullpen strategy.

Those doubts carried over into a promising 2015 campaign. The Nationals arrived in Viera, Fla. in mid-February has an overwhelming favorite to win their first World Series crown. But early injuries to key catalysts Denard Span and Anthony Rendon should've been signs of the rocky roads ahead.

Span and Rendon didn't make opening day. Neither did veteran Jayson Werth, who was still rehabbing from offseason right shoulder surgery. The Nats limped out of the gates, finishing April with a 10-13 record, five games out of first place.

But they surged to an 18-9 mark in May mostly behind the violent display of hitting from Bryce Harper and an intense display of pitching from Max Scherzer. They ended the month with a half-game division lead, which seesawed back and forth with the Mets for the next few weeks before an eight-game winning streak in mid-June, which included Scherzer's first career no-hitter, helped the Nats take a firm hold on first place.

Despite starting normal reserves Danny Espinosa, Clint Robinson and Michael A. Taylor on a nightly basis while the likes of Ryan Zimmerman, Werth, Span and Rendon remained on the DL, the Nats continued in first place for next 34 games, taking as much as a 4 1/2-game lead.

The Nationals showed up in New York for a three-game series scheduled to begin two hours after the end of the trade deadline on July 31. In three tight games, Williams again made questionable calls with his bullpen down the stretch, most notably never using the team's two best relievers Drew Storen and the newly acquired Jonathan Papelbon. The Mets swept the series and the Nationals never reached first place again.

Scherzer faltered badly in August and the veterans took longer than expected to regain their timing at the plate after returning from the DL. A disastrous six-game losing streak on a miserable West Coast road trip in mid-August sent the Nationals reeling. They went 12-17 in the month, dropping 6 1/2 games behind the Mets.

More bullpen woes followed as the Nats wasted a prime opportunity to sweep the Cardinals in St. Louis, instead losing of two of three as relievers failed to hold leads in the seventh inning or beyond.

Yet, when the Mets arrived in the nation's capital for a three-game set Sept. 7-10, the Nats had cut the lead down to four games. Washington led entering the sixth inning in all three games, but failed to close out any, eventually suffering a damaging sweep. The low point of the series and arguably of the season was the Nationals blowing a six-run lead in the seventh inning of the second game when Blake Treinen, Felipe Rivero and Storen combined to walk a baffling six batters, eventually surrendering six runs.

When Williams wrapped up his postgame comments in the press room that night, several fans in the adjacent Presidents Club at Nationals Park booed the skipper off the stage.

The Nationals were finally eliminated from the postseason on Sept. 26. But the following day may have been the nail in the coffin for Williams. A jawing match between Harper and Papelbon turned into a full-fledged fight in the Nats dugout when Papelbon attacked Harper, lunging at the young slugger with his left hand in a chokehold on Harper. The melee was broken up quickly by players and coaches. Harper stormed off to the clubhouse, taking himself out of the game. Meanwhile, Williams proceeded to send Papelbon back out to pitch the ninth inning, despite choking the franchise player moments before.

Rizzo called Williams' decision "odd" the following day. Williams told the media he hadn't seen the video and wasn't aware of how bad Papelbon's action were. Either way, it proved a major disconnect existed with Williams and his handling of the team.

Williams went 179-145 in his two seasons as manager of the Nationals and had one year remaining on his contract.

Update: The Nationals have made the firing of Matt Williams official. Also, the Nats announced that bench coach Randy Knorr, pitching coach Steve McCatty, hitting coach Rick Schu, third base coach Bobby Henley, first base coach Tony Tarasco, bullpen coach Matt LeCroy and defensive coordinator/advance coach Mark Weidemaier have been informed that their contracts will not be renewed.