The Washington Nationals and general manager Mike Rizzo are in one of the most important stretches of their history, seeking a manager to lead the team to a postseason series win and, they hope, a World Series title. The most popular name to replace the recently fired Matt Williams is Cal Ripken Jr., a civic hero in Baltimore as well as Washington, but one who would be a terrible choice to lead these Nats. Here are eight reason why.

1. The Nationals need to win, now.

The Nats window is what, two or three years — possibly longer depending on who re-signs (cough, Harper, cough), giving Cal a short time to make his mark. And with Nats owner Ted Lerner turning 90 in a few weeks, he probably won’t have the patience that might be needed with a new manager. Almost every manager who’s ever filled out a lineup card requires some time to get their feet wet in the bigs. The Nats don’t need that kind of guy at this point in their existence. They need a manager who can come in and win now. This post isn’t meant to suggest Cal Ripken would be a bad baseball manager. It’s only meant to suggest he’d be the wrong manager for the Washington Nationals right now.

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2. Stars have not had success after getting back in the dugout.

There have only been three on-field Hall of Famers who have debuted as manager. One is active — Paul Molitor is completing his first year with the Twins. Another left this year — Ryne Sandberg resigned after less than two years in the hot seat in Philadelphia. And the most famous, of course, was Ted Williams. He managed the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers from 1969-73 and saw his team experience a drop in wins in each of his four years (86, 70, 63, 54) which culminated in a 100-loss season in ’73.

(We should note that some players made their managing debuts before making the Hall of Fame, a list that includes Yogi Berra, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson and a slew of older players who managed before the Hall of Fame even existed. Only Berra won a title. Also, there have been plenty of fine players to become managers, such as Joe Torre, Don Baylor, Dusty Baker and Gil Hodges.)

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There are dozens of theories about why Hall of Fame players don’t make for Hall of Fame coaches but each seemingly references Williams, who was perpetually frustrated that his players weren’t as good as him. As Bill James once wrote: “Teddy would routinely get pissed off at his player’s inability to do things he did. Why couldn’t they see that pitch was four inches off the [expletive] plate? How come they didn’t know a change-up was coming?”

3. Rizzo admitted most of the problem with Williams was a lack of experience.

“Last time, we brought in managing candidates with little or no managerial experience,” the Nats GM said ruefully after firing Williams (Matt, not Ted). Well, if you’re looking to change course, going with another guy who has never served as manager at any level probably isn’t the best move. (And at least Williams had some time on a major-league bench before coming to Washington, serving as first- and third-base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.)

4. Rookie managers don’t win World Series (usually).

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A rookie manager has won a title four times in the 112-year history of the World Series. The last was Bob Brenly in that bizarre 2001 World Series when his Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees on a walk-off hit in Game 7. No offense toward Brenly, who was a fine manager, it didn’t take Casey Stengel to realize that you threw Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling until their arms fell off in that series or a blood moon appeared in the sky, whichever happened first.

5. What’s in it for Cal?

Maybe Cal has the itch to get back in the dugout and that’s fine. Do your thing, Calvin. But if he wants to build on his legacy, coming to the Nats isn’t the way to do it. (Frankly, I don’t think there’s any way to do it other than continuing to be the classy guy he’s always been.) Either he wins a World Series with a team that should have already won the World Series or he fails for the first time in his baseball life. Plus, I don’t know, is there glory that comes with being a great manager? “All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth,” Ted Williams once said.

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Other than Tito Francona, who brought a baseball-starved city its first title in 86 years and baseball lifers such as Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa, name any heroic manager of the past 30 years? (Though Joe Maddon might get there in a month.) Matt Williams was fired 11 months after winning Manager of the Year! They’re not building statues to guys who fill out lineup cards and make calls to the bullpen. Baseball managers are expendable, as Matty showed in the District. Iron Men are not expendable. Plus, what if Cal had to call in sick one day. It’d ruin everything!

6. The new Nats manager needs to be proven, not experimental.

Experimenting with Cal would have been great thing back in 2010, when the Nationals were coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons but were just starting to emerge as a playoff contender thanks to home-grown talent (Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, Jordan Zimmermann), big free agent signings (Jayson Werth), minor-leaguers from other organizations (Michael Morse) and a multitude of draft picks over a number of years (Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Drew Storen, Anthony Rendon, Danny Espinosa). Then, you have Cal figure out things in his first few years while everyone was waiting patiently and then, by 2012, he and the Nats would have been ready for a pennant race.

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Now, the decidedly unsexier names of Bud Black, Dusty Baker and Ron Gardenhire make sense. And if Rizzo wants to go with some top lieutenants, such as Dave Martinez, who’s served as a bench coach under Maddon in Tampa and Chicago, that’d work too. (That’d go against the “don’t hire a first-time manager if you want to win in his first year, but at least Martinez has the coaching pedigree.) Twenty managers have won in their first year with a team. That’s good news for the Nats.

7. Make the long-term hire.

Hire a guy who wants to be here for a decade. That’s not to say Cal Ripken wouldn’t want to, but he has so many other things on his plate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he coached for a few seasons, then decided to move on with his excellent youth academies or this part-time television career. Ripken doesn’t need to be manager. Get someone who desperately wants it.

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8. We don’t need any more intermingling between D.C. and Baltimore sports.

It’s bad enough there are insufferable sports fans in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area who insist on rooting for both the Orioles and Nationals. Bringing Baltimore’s greatest sports hero to coach D.C. would blur those lines even more. Washington and Baltimore sports need to stay separate. They are difference cities with nothing in common except for a disdain of Beltways that surround I-95 and mileage signs on both sides that indicate their proximity.

Cal was beloved in Washington and D.C. fans, such as myself, will always root for the man. But for as sweet as it would be to give a slap in the face to Peter Angelos for the way he sabotaged both his own team and D.C.’s baseball bid for years (I bet even some O’s fans would enjoy the schadenfreude), it’s not worth it. Cal is an Oriole. Cal should always be an Oriole. Look elsewhere, Nats. Look elsewhere.

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