While Matt Williams was referred to often as Washington Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo's "hand-picked" successor to Davey Johnson on the bench in the nation's capital, as Washington Post writer Barry Svrluga noted last month, the decision to hire Williams in 2013, "didn’t just fall to [Rizzo].":
"Yes, Rizzo liked Williams. But the highest levels of ownership – from Ted Lerner to his son and daughters and their husbands – were involved in the interview process. Everyone signed off on Williams."
Two years later, after Williams led the Nationals to a disappointing second-place finish in the NL East in a drama and injury-filled campaign, that same group of people made the decision to relieve the second-year skipper of his duties on the bench in D.