Williams turns page on Nationals, glad to be back in Arizona

PHOENIX - If there was such a thing as a perfect landing spot for Matt Williams after the disappointing and abrupt conclusion of his tenure as Nationals manager, this was it. Back in Arizona, where he has lived since his playing days, coaching third base for a Diamondbacks organization that has always valued his presence.

"It's great," Williams said this afternoon, seated in the third base dugout at Chase Field. "I'm home. I've been here 30 years, and certainly I enjoy the community. We've been involved with this organization for a long time as a family, and I'm proud to be here."

This, of course, isn't where Williams wanted to be in a perfect world. He would rather still be managing the Nationals club he guided to a division title in 2014, earning him National League Manager of the Year honors and the extension of his contract through 2016.

That didn't happen, not after the 2015 Nationals collapsed, finishing seven games behind the Mets, amid elements of dysfunction both on and off the field over the final weeks of a lost season. Fewer than 24 hours after the club's last game, Williams was unemployed, fired in spite of the guaranteed year that still remained on his contract.

It didn't take long, though, for Williams to land on his feet. He was hired by the Diamondbacks in November, for the same third base coaching position he held before he departed for Washington two years earlier.

"I gladly took it," he said. "It's what I do. It's what I love."

As this was all happening, the Nationals' search for Williams' replacement wound up zeroing in on one of his closest friends and mentors in the sport: Dusty Baker. Baker was Williams' hitting coach with the Giants in the late 1980s, then his manager in the 1990s and a trusted confidant ever since. Now he was potentially going to supplant his student in Washington.

What could have been an awkward situation, though, was diffused by a simple phone call. Baker got in touch with Williams before taking the Nationals job, making sure the latter took no issue with it.

"I asked Matty if it was OK if I talked to Washington," Baker recalled this afternoon. "Because there was an opening, and I didn't want him to think I did anything behind his back and backstab him, because I wouldn't do that. Before I do, I'd stay at home. ... You're not supposed to have favorites, but he's one of my favorites."

Baker also counseled Williams when it came time to decide whether to take the Diamondbacks job. Williams was already being paid this year, so he didn't have to work, but Baker thought it was important to jump back into the fray and not sit at home wondering what might have been.

"I suggested that (he) take the job and get back on the field," Baker said. "When you get fired, especially in your first job and there's a very short tenure, your feelings are hurt. Or you feel kind of like a failure, for whatever reason. These guys are human."

Williams was characteristically cautious and nondescript when talking about the end of his time in D.C., insisting he harbors no ill will toward anyone from the organization.

"As I've said many, many times, I respect everybody that puts on that opposing uniform over there," he said. "I respect them for their abilities and for their work ethic and for the way they go about it. So taking that forward is certainly a benefit for me. There's no lingering thought at all."

Does he think he's better for having experienced everything he did the last two years?

"Of course," Williams said. "Every experience will make you a better coach, or a better teammate or any of that. All the experience helps, good and bad. You learn from the things that don't go so well, appreciate the things that do and move forward."

Though he insisted he's not going out of his way to seek another managerial job, he would be interested if given another chance to do it.

"If the opportunity ever arises, sure," he said. "I love this game. I love being a part of it. If somebody wants me to be a part of it, I'd gladly be a part of it."