Top stories of 2018: Martinez's first year in charge

As we count down the final days of 2018, we're counting down the most significant stories of the year for the Nationals. Some are positive. Some are negative. All helped define this baseball season in Washington. Five top stories made the final cut, and we'll reveal one per day, continuing with ...

No. 4: Davey Martinez's first season as manager

Whether you were a fan of his hiring or not, you had to admit Davey Martinez was thrust into a situation last year that was more likely to end poorly than well. Through no fault of his own, Martinez inherited a Nationals club that had just let go a popular manager on the heels of back-to-back division titles. In dumping Dusty Baker and then hiring Martinez, the Nats front office essentially told the first-year skipper: Anything less than a berth in the National League Championship Series will be considered a failure.

The Nationals, of course, didn't reach the NLCS. They didn't even reach the postseason, stuck instead a few games above or below .500 for most of a 2018 campaign that ended with an 82-80 record and the late-summer dumping of veteran salaries.

Whether you believe the outcome would have been different had ownership simply retained Baker is entirely up to you. Just acknowledge this: No matter who resided in the manager's office, Stephen Strasburg still would have made only 22 starts, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark still would've gone a combined 16-26 with a 4.44 ERA, Sean Doolittle still would've spent two months on the disabled list with a foot injury, and Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon still would've been the only members of the lineup healthy enough to qualify for the league's batting title.

Martinez had no control over any of that. Which isn't to say he had a flawless debut season as a big league skipper, because he didn't.

When he arrived in West Palm Beach for spring training, Martinez saw a roster loaded with talent and experience, the overwhelming majority of which had already been together for at least the previous season, if not longer. So he chose to take a hands-off approach, figuring the best thing he could do was to simply let these guys play.

Martinez felt the best thing he could do was help his players relax. He tried to make spring training fun, to mixed reviews. (Insert your camel joke of choice here.) He trusted veterans to prepare in the manner they saw fit. He set out to build close-knit relationships with everybody.

Then the season began and the Nationals, in addition to their injury and pitching woes, proved to be flawed in fundamentals. Double plays weren't turned. Some runners were picked off base. Others were left stranded on third despite getting there with fewer than two outs.

So now Martinez and his coaches are vowing a more hands-on approach in 2019.

"I'm going to push the envelope a little bit more than I did this year," he said. "Especially with fundamentals."

Martinez will know his players better this time around, will know how much he can push them and how much he needs to back off at times. And his players will know him better, as well, and better understand what he expects of them.

Given the unquestioned disappointment of the 2018 season, Martinez might have felt like he wasn't assured of returning in 2019. General manager Mike Rizzo, though, was adamant all along there was no plan to make yet another managerial change. And the manner in which the Nationals played over the final two months of the season - not their record, but the way they stayed together despite ample opportunity for clubhouse fracturing - convinced Rizzo he was making the right decision.

Make no mistake, though: Martinez faces even more pressure in his second year at the helm. He still can't be blamed for injuries or regressive performances from players who should do better, but he can be blamed if the little mistakes that plagued this season's club aren't removed next season.

Circumstances guaranteed Martinez's first year in the dugout would be closely scrutinized. Circumstances now guarantee the scrutiny will only grow in his second year.