Nationals' managerial opening is attractive to Bud Black

Hours after Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo fired first-time manager Matt Williams on Monday, he presented a more seasoned approach for choosing the team's next skipper.

"We feel that where we're at in our timetable of winning a championship, we certainly would lean toward someone that has some type of managerial experience, especially at the major league level," Rizzo said.

Former San Diego Padres manager Bud Black is on the market and has been floated as potentially a good fit for Rizzo and the Nationals. The Padres underperformed after general manager A.J. Preller's offseason bonanza, so Preller dismissed Black in mid-June with a 32-33 record.

Black, a left-hander, compiled a 121-116 record with a 3.84 ERA with five different teams, working mostly as a starting pitcher. The 58-year-old Black started 33 games for the 1985 World Series champion Royals. Black was also a teammate of Williams in San Francisco from 1991-1995.

Following his retirement, Black joined Mike Scioscia's staff, becoming the Angels pitching coach in 2000. In 2002, Black claimed another World Series ring.

The Padres were coming off back-to-back National League West titles when manager Bruce Bochy headed north, taking over the Giants. So San Diego turned to Black, giving him his first big league managerial position. The Padres haven't returned to the postseason since.

Black had San Diego primed for a playoff run in 2010 before a late 10-game losing streak and a 12-16 September erased a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL West. Black still ended up winning the NL's Manager of the Year Award.

Over his nine seasons as Padres skipper, Black ended up with a 649-713 record. He is only the third manager since 1900 to hold a job with one team for more than eight seasons despite never making the postseason or winning more than 90 games in a year, according to Elias. However, most cite a non-competitive payroll as the Padres' main problem during Black's tenure in San Diego while having to deal with the free-spending Dodgers and Giants to the north.

The other knock against Black is that former pitchers have never been recognized as strong managerial candidates. Currently, Cincinnati's Bryan Price and Boston's John Farrell are the only current major league managers who spent their careers on the mound. The concerns are rooted in a pitcher being too one-dimensional and not spending enough time around all parts of the game.

Black was asked yesterday about his thoughts on the Nationals opening during his appearance as a co-host on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio.

"Very attractive position," he said. "Very good team. A great city. That's a good one."

Stay tuned.