David Huzzard: A closer look at the Nats skipper Matt Williams

Since the trade deadline, the Washington Nationals are 4-11 and sinking fast in their National League East race against the Mets. An August/September division race is something new for the Washington Nationals. In 2012 and 2014, they were in the lead for most of the season and began to pull away at this time of year, and in 2013 the Nationals were so far out of it, a late surge made no difference. Now the Washington Nationals find themselves in a fight and they are currently behind on the scorecard in the eighth round. There is time to get things going and pass the Mets, but it is quickly running out.

Matt Williams' in-game decisions aren't much different than most other managers. Take for instance when against the Mets he used his top lefty pitcher to square off against their top lefty hitter, saving his set-up man to pitch the ninth inning on the road. The move didn't workout, but it was perfectly logical and one 90 percent of managers make. It is tough to say that Matt Williams should be fired for a move the majority of replacements would also make, but if Matt Williams isn't much different than the man that would replace him, then perhaps he should be fired to send a message.

Teams often fire a manager because they can't fire the players. Matt Williams put Matt Thornton in a position where he should have been able to succeed and instead he failed, Matt Williams quickly realized that Jayson Werth shouldn't be batting third in the lineup after his return from the disabled list and removed him from that position, and earlier in the year Matt Williams was able to identify that Danny Espinosa was the correct choice to fill in for the injured Anthony Rendon over Dan Uggla. These were all moves where Matt Williams put players in a position to succeed. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't, and if the Nats want to turn their season around and beat the Mets, eventually the players are going to have to perform.

The question is can the Nationals wait that long or do they need a spark to get the players to perform. Very few managers deserve to be fired. Bud Black isn't the one that traded away prospects that could have helped the Padres this season while not acquiring a center fielder or any infielders, Mike Redmond isn't the one that didn't recognize that the Marlins had a lack of starting pitching depth, and Ron Roenicke wasn't why the Brewers had a poor pitching staff. All three managers were fired for things beyond their control, but managers don't win or lose games. Even the best manager in baseball is worth maybe three wins.

Matt Williams is about a zero win manager. He doesn't help or hurt the team. He let's the players go out on the field and decide the outcome of the game without much meddling. The Nationals as a team have had the least number of non-pitcher sac bunts, the Nats rarely execute hit and runs, and it's hard to recall the last time Matt Williams ordered a double switch. Matt Williams doesn't like to inject himself into the game and that is a good quality in a manager. If the Nationals fire him, they could end up with worse head men for a couple seasons like the Capitals when they let Bruce Boudreau go.

A message has to be sent and often the manager is the sacrificial lamb. It is a job where people are hired to be fired. Managers have little to do with the results on the field, and injuries and underperformance have had a much bigger impact on this season than any in-game decision by Matt Williams, but that doesn't save his job. General managers fire managers because they don't want to admit their own failing. Mike Rizzo could have done a better job in building bullpen depth or acquiring an outfielder at the trade deadline, but that wasn't done, and the Nationals find themselves in a position where it might be time for desperate action. Bad decisions are made in moments of desperation and many teams have fired a manager they don't think is ready, only to watch that manager go off and win a World Series elsewhere. It's a risk the Nationals would run, but the players need to play better, and because they can't be fired, it might be time for Matt Williams to be.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals at Citizens of Natstown. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHuzzard. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our regular roster of writers.