Cubs bench coach Martinez to manage Nationals
WASHINGTON — Dave Martinez will get a chance to try to do what no Washington Nationals manager has accomplished: win a postseason series with the club.
Martinez agreed to a three-year contract plus an option with the Nationals, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Sunday, for a job that will make him a skipper in the majors for the first time.
The 53-year-old Martinez has been the bench coach for manager Joe Maddon for the past decade. The two were together with the Chicago Cubs for the past three seasons, including that team’s 2016 World Series championship. Before that, Martinez worked for Maddon with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Martinez replaces Dusty Baker as Washington’s manager.
Baker was let go a little more than a week ago. He had been given only a two-year contract and was dismissed after leading the Nationals to two NL East titles — with 95 wins in 2016 and 97 wins in 2017.
Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and the rest of the Nationals were eliminated with a one-run loss in Game 5 of an NL Division Series each time — including by the Cubs this year.
Martinez is Washington’s sixth manager in a 10-season span.
Martinez played for nine major league franchises over 16 years, including four seasons with the Montreal Expos, the team that moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals. Martinez was mostly an outfielder. He retired as a player in 2001.
PHILLIES: Gabe Kapler will become the next Phillies manager, according to a source. The former outfielder, known as a workout freak during his playing career who created his own healthy-lifestyle website afterward, has guided the Dodgers minor-league system for the last three seasons. His combination of playing and frontoffice experience, with a deep appreciation for analytics, convinced the Phillies to hire an unconventional outside perspective.
GURRIEL: Yuli Gurriel still has to face the fans in Los Angeles after his racist gesture toward Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish.
The Astros first baseman has had the support of Houston fans since his response toward Darvish after hitting a home run in Game 3 on Friday night. But the series will be back in LA for Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Major League Baseball suspended Gurriel for the first five games of the 2018 regular season, but didn’t take him out of the World Series.
“I don’t think I need to talk to him about it, I think everyone is aware it’s going to be a rough setting for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said before Game 5 in Houston. “I don’t think you can convince 55,000 fans to turn the page as fast as maybe the two teams have. And that goes out of support for their own players and their own people.”
ATHLETICS: Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell was arrested in Arizona after a food delivery person alleged he pointed a gun at her.
Maxwell was the only player in Major League Baseball to take a knee this year during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
YANKEES: Mariano Rivera was surprised by the Yankees’ decision to fire Joe Girardi after a decade as manager.
“Joe did a great job managing the team for so many years, and especially this year but, well, it’s business,” Rivera said Saturday at the World Series before presenting an award to Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen.
Rivera was Girardi’s teammate on the Yankees from 1996-99 and played under Girardi from 2008-13.