Davey Johnson: The Rex Ryan of D.C.?

Good Afternoon, Nats fans!

Well, Pitchers and Catchers have reported, along with most of the other Nats players, most recently Mark DeRosa, who arrived today, with official workouts beginning Friday if i’m not mistaken. Davey Johnson has obviously arrived in Viera, at Space Coast Stadium, and had some strong statments to make about this year’s Nationals team in comparison the mid-80s Mets teams Johnson guided, most notably to the 1986 World Series Championship over the Boston Red Sox. When asked about this Nationals team’s potential, Johnson said “This club has more potential than that club. It just has a lot more gifted athletes. The potential I see on this club is pretty damn high. It’s going to be my job to see that we play like it.” (courtesy to @NationalsPR, @AdamKilgoreWP for the quotes). Johnson managed the Mets from 1984-1990, and went 595-417 (.588) and remains the winningest Manager in Mets history.

This is certainly not the first time Davey has made some bold statements about this team. During his introductory conference call, Johnson said (and I paraphrase) “obviously, the goal is winning the Pennant next year.” When Davey first took over as manager of the Nationals last summer, his calling card was his ability to subtly instill confidence in his players, mostly through the media. Well, guess what Davey is doing? Exactly that. And after the offseason the Nationals had, who can blame him? They’ve added Gio Gonzalez via trade, signed Edwin Jackson, brought in Brad Lidge, and put together a Davey Johnson bench. With all this said, and based on his track record, I ask this question: Is Davey Johnson the Rex Ryan of the D.C. sports scene? How about we go a bit further with this: could he be the Rex Ryan of MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL?

Think about it, it’s not a completely ridiculous statement. When Rex took over the Jets in 2009, after the years of the tight-lipped and then almost robotic Eric Mangini (he has since become an ESPN analyst and quite a good and engaging one I may add), Rex walked on in and claimed he thought he saw the President sitting behind him, but quickly added the Jets would be meeting him soon enough, anyway, and boisterously proclaiming the Jets would win the Super Bowl that year. Rex would proceed to lead a 9-7 Jets team to the AFC Championship game, where they were a 2nd half away from going to the Super Bowl (although i’m not sure it would have ended well against the soon-to-be Champion New Orleans Saints, but I digress). Of course, Rex would not be denied, as after the Super Bowl that year, Rex again predicted the Jets would be the Super Bowl Champions of that year (2010-11). The team would go 11-5, and end the season, again, a good 1st half away from the Super Bowl, losing the AFC Championship to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would then lose to the Green Bay Packers. We all know what happened at the end of THIS season, so we won’t go there.

Now, there are some obvious differences between Rex and Davey. They both make (or have made) bold predictions about their teams, both of which have not done much to confirm these sentiments, but have done PLENTY to deny them. They both talk up their players, and have all the confidence in the WORLD in them, and try to motivate through the media, though one is more subtle. The differences, however, are quite extensive. Rex is a blustery, boisterous Coach who will talk the world of his players, and is never afraid to share his opinion. Davey is a much more quiet and subtle motivator, prefering to use implications and innuendos through the media. ADVANCE APOLOGY TO JETS FANS FOR THIS NEXT SENTENCE: Rex is also the winningest active NFL coach…in his own head. Combine the 3 rings he won in 09-10-11 in New York, and the 3-4 he would have won in San Diego had he gotten the job, and you’re looking at 6-7 Super Bowl Titles. Davey may not have that many rings, but he does have a real World Series ring. Davey Johnson managed teams have also never finished lower than 3rd in his managerial career, and he has managed 5 teams (Orioles, Reds, Mets, Dodgers, Nationals). Also, Davey’s last full-time gig was in 2000 as a manager of the Dodgers, and in that amount of time (11 years) Rex has been an assistant and also interviewed for at least 4 jobs.

So, still think he’s not the “Rex of DC”? Let’s stack him up next to the other DC area coaches…

Redskins- Mike Shanahan (6-10 in 2010, 5-11 in 2011, 11-21 combined): Shanahan just finished his 2nd season with the Redskins, and it looked quite a bit like his first season in Washington: bad. He couldn’t win with Donovan McNabb, benching him in favor of Rex Grossman and John Beck, and in 2011 couldn’t win with Rex Grossman and John Beck as the primary QBs. He desperately wants things his way, and if they don’t get a QB this offseason, he probably won’t be fighting for his way much longer in DC.

Capitals- Dale Hunter (9-7-1/19 pts, took job 11/28/11/29-25-5 (63 pts) overall): Hunter just started his NHL career as a Head Coach, as he replaced Bruce Boudreau, who’s anti-Ranger fan comments in last year’s playoffs would have made him a hot contender on this list, who was fired and promptly hired by the Anaheim Ducks, who basically got fired because he made Alex Ovechkin mad. The Capitals havent made much noise, as they currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference at 29-25-5 (63 pts) and could be watching the playoffs from their couches this year.

Wizards- Randy Wittman (took job Jan 2012 Flip Saunders fired (started 2-15, 5-10 under Wittman, 7-25 overall): Wittman took over for Flip Saunders, who was fired after a horrific 2-15 start. This team has some talent, and Wittman would probably need to lead the team to the playoffs for him to be back.

Needless to say, the DC Sports scene is a complete mess. 2 of the 4 major teams have interim coaches, and may or may not be back in 2012. With that said, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Davey is the Rex Ryan of DC, at least for now. I like Rex as coach, and I like Davey twice as much.

GO NATS

-Nick