Matt Williams responds to questions on his future

FLUSHING, N.Y. - Matt Williams shied away from responding to yesterday's report from CBSSPORTS.com that he will lose his job as Nationals manager at season's end.

"Nobody's spoken to me about anything at this point and frankly it's not a concern of mine right now," Williams said. "We've got a guy that's a potential MVP on our team and we got three games to play. That's what I'm concentrating on. That's what I know right now and as of today, I got a job to do a couple of times and we'll go from there."

Williams was questioned why he hasn't defended himself with reports surfacing in the Washington Post that he has lost the Nationals' clubhouse.

"I personally feel that it is my job to be a calming force as opposed to a disruptive one," Williams said. "We have a lot of talented players on this team that I support wholeheartedly every single day. I will not stop doing that ... ever. Believe me when I tell you this - ever stop doing that.

"So that being said, I'm not going to subject this team to any more distraction. There's no reason for further distraction at this point. What's important is that we finish this season as strong as we can finish. Beyond that, it's noise."

In his first season as a major league skipper, Williams won the National League's Manager of the Year Award after guiding the Nats to an NL East championship. But this season's high expectations came crashing down with a second-half collapse.

"Everybody learns every single day," Williams reflected. "You're faced with challenges whether it's a day one or at the end of the second year. And it doesn't change as long as you manage. So that being said, we work hard. We take this very seriously. And we want to win as many games as we can.

"I look forward to that on an everyday basis. That's part of the grind. It's part of the pleasure of the job is to have those bumps and get over them. Learn. Be better. I look forward to that for the next three games and we'll see what the future holds."

Pressed further about his future, Williams continually declined to give any additional details as he sat in his office lightly pounding his desk.

"That's between myself and management," Williams said. "There's conversations that happen every single day. We'll keep that private to this point. Again, we've got three to play and we've got a potential MVP on our team and this is not gonna be a distraction anymore. It's not. So Bryce needs to play. Our guys need to finish strong. Maxie (Max Scherzer) is gonna pitch again and can end his season well. So can Gio (Gonzalez). So can Tanner (Roark). That's what we're concerned about. To throw anything else out there is just not prudent. That's not what we want to do at this point."