Blame It On Rijo

Just leave Michael Caine out of it. The axe has finally, officially fallen on Nats Special Assistant to the GM Jose Rijo, Washington's man in the Dominican and the linchpin of the Smiley "Carlos Daniel Paul Reubens von Hauptmann Alvarez Lugo" Gonzalez fiasco. Also gone is Rijo's aide-de-camp Jose Baez, day-to-day manager of Rijo's Dominican Baseball Academy and Home for Overaged Boys.

Taking their place is Fernando "Un" Ravelo, current GM of the Tigres del Licey baseball club in the DR. Potential GM-in-waiting Mike Rizzo is on the island firing Rijo and scouting new homes for the Nationals' scaled-down Dominican operations. Nationals Farm Authority has a more, ummm, authoritative take on the repercussions of these moves, but if Brian's generally on board, it's all fine by me.

Was Rijo a big enough target to buy Trader Jim a little more time? I don't know, and you don't know, but what worries me is the that Stan Kasten and the Lerners may not even know yet. Indecision and in-fighting are such attractive qualities in an ownership group.

Your 2009 Washington Nationals: Desperately hoping the team improves enough to distract from the off-field donkey show already in progress!