Can Matt Williams Manage the Expectations

Who Me? That was the collective reaction of the Washington Nationals in 2013 as they came out of Florida with their ace Stephen Strasburg on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the magazine predicting a World Series win for the team. Last season proved that something was missing in the Nationals clubhouse and Davey Johnson was never able to find it until it was too late. Jayson Werth says that the Nationals grew up last year, that they learned in the final months how to manage expectation, that they found an inner spark. All fine and good, but here they are again, predicted to win it all, though the SI cover has someone else featured. Are the Nationals really ready?

If there is anyone who can manage the high expectations for the Washington Nationals, it is Matt Williams. He has become known not as the manager who is predicting big things, but as the man with the plan. The Washington press have been handed a new set of talking points every day.  The team is going to play small ball. The team is going to run, The team is going to be aggressive and take the extra base. Does that mean that everyone will be waiting on Bryce Harper to hit the 500 foot homer? Probably not as much as last season.

The best way to focus on something other than the end of the season and where you will be at that point is to have a plan for every day and the will to execute it. As the teams in the NCAA tournament play out the final week of their season, nothing has been more obvious than that teams that adhere religiously from start to finish to a well conceived plan are the ones cutting down the net. And then there is the chatter about teams filled with seniors that have played together for years. Does the outcome of one season really tell us very much at the start of another?

ESPN Magazine was just as resolute as Sports Illustrated in touting Washington as a power to beat in 2014, but their predictions were all about “Chemistry.”  In the article the writers discussed the time that various teams had been together as a key variable in predicting success. The fact that the Nationals were largely a group of players who came to the big leagues together and have now been playing together for several seasons is a large plus on their side of the ledger. The Atlanta Braves have always stressed a similar approach although they brought in key outside talent like the Upton Brothers. The St. Louis Cardinals operate from the same set of instructions, while the Dodgers are using the George Steinbrenner model that has worked rather well at times also.

One of the most compelling stories of team chemistry also comes from the NCAA where Adreian Payne, the power forward for Michigan State, has befriended a young eight-year old girl, Lacey Holsworth, who is fighting cancer. It is a wonderful story about the connections that athletes can make. Yet accompanying some of the stories about Payne and Lacey have been anecdotal evidence suggesting that teams that are involved in these kinds of emotional ventures play more competitively. Teams that are playing for a young kid with serious problems perform at higher levels. Chemistry? Sounds like it to me.

Which is not to say the Washington Nationals or any other team should scour the sick bays of local hospitals for inspiration. Team chemistry is not just a found object or if it is it is about the ability to make art from the mundane and everyday. It depends more than anything on sincerity and real friendship. No, the Nationals will need to make their chemistry from the long relationships that the team has been fostering between the players over the past few years. One indication that Washington values long standing relationships is retaining Randy Knorr, the bench coach who managed many of the players during their minor league careers. Matt Williams brought in a few hand-picked specialists, but Knorr remains a man of respect in the clubhouse and part of the chemistry of the team forged over time that cannot be ordered to go like an Egg McMuffin.

The teams that win will always be the ones that show up to play every day and play the game as a team, picking one another up when someone stumbles. Can the Dodgers do that as well as cashing in with the highest payroll in the game? Or are the Rays better suited for post-season? Great managers help form the chemistry and Joe Maddon has done wonders with the Rays. Fans in Washington are betting that Matt Williams can perform the same magic, that he can do more than just lay out the plan for a successful season and get his players to buy in. Fans are betting that he can make a little chemistry as well, that he can stir the pot until the mix is just right. We will begin to find out soon enough how well Williams plays the expectations game.