Manny Acta Likely to Be Fall Guy in Nationals Mess

It's June 13, and apparently we have our third major league manager firing. The latest victim -- according to scoop-master Ken Rosenthal -- of the ax is Manny Acta of the Washington Nationals. Considering that the Nationals are the worst team in baseball -- and at 16-43, it ain't close -- this can't come as a huge surprise to many.

Acta will be replaced by Jim Riggleman, who took over after a firing last season in Seattle. He's also had stints managing the Cubs and Padres. In fact, he was the Cubs' skipper during the 1998 season that saw Sammy Sosa's 66 bombs and Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game. He shouldn't expect to see fireworks of that variety in Washington, though.

While the Nats' offense isn't bad, it's not near good enough to overcome the absolutely dreadful pitching they pump out on a daily basis. The 5.28 ERA is good enough for dead last in the majors, as is their allowed .361 on-base percentage. Not only is the .271 winning percentage at a pace approaching the major league record in futility (at this rate they would finish 44-118; no one has lost more than 120 since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders), but the separation is uncanny. The next worst team in the league -- unfortunately for the "Beltway" region, it's the Baltimore Orioles -- has an eight-game lead over the Nats.

It's pretty tough to implicate Acta alone in this debacle. He's not the one feeding the team with awful pitching and he's not the one who can't get guys out late in the game. That's what happens when you are in charge, though: You have to fall on the sword when things are going this badly.

The funny thing is, though, this job might be a fairly attractive option this coming offseason. The Nationals have a fine foundation of good position players: Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Nick Johnson, Jesus Flores, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes, and Cristian Guzman, to name a few. Pitching-wise, they are in bad shape presently, but it looks to change a few years down the road. There's plenty of potential and youth in Jordan Zimmermann (23 years old), Shairon Martis (22), John Lannan (24) and Ross Detwiler (23). Add recently signed first-rounder Drew Storen and top overall pick Stephen Strasburg to the mix, and you could easily see the Nationals coming into their own in 2011, if not earlier.

For now, though, this probably seems like an early vacation for Manny Acta. Losing 73 percent of the time can't be fun, no matter the perks of being a major league manager.

UPDATE: Ben Goessling of the Washington Times reports that there is no immediate plan to fire Acta, which seems to imply Rosenthal's report was a jump of the proverbial gun. Either way, the situation bears watching, as there's little reason to believe Acta has great job security right now.