James Wagner of the Washington Post caught up with Matt Williams, who was fired by the Nationals one year after being named NL Manager of the Year and is now the Diamondbacks’ third base coach.
Williams played for the Diamondbacks, previously coached for the Diamondbacks, and lives in Arizona, so he told Wagner that “it’s nice to sleep in my own bed at night ... it’s a good situation.”
As for being let go by the Nationals despite a .552 winning percentage in two seasons at the helm, Williams said:
Williams received a lot of criticism last season and much of it was warranted based on both his shaky in-game tactics and complaints about his losing the clubhouse. However, he certainly handled his firing with class and, even now, Wagner notes that Williams stopped short of getting into any specifics about how he feels wronged or who else is to blame.
