Holder signs, Patterson up, Acta out?

The overwhelming negativity of the rest of this post has nothing to do with the Nats signing their 3rd round pick, Georgia RHSP Trevor Holder (for $200k, I might add...a 60% discount over what similar picks got last year). It starts with the sad story of Josh Willingham losing his younger brother to a car accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Willingham family. Willingham is to be replaced by Corey Patterson while Josh on the bereavement list. Patterson is a terrible, awful, no-good baseball player and I am very upset the club is wasting a 40-man spot on him (cleared by moving Terrell Young to the 60-day DL, something they are apparently reluctant to do with Da Meat Hook). Did I mention Patterson is the worst baseball player ever?

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Manny's out as the manager and will be replaced by Jim Riggleman as soon as Monday. It's truthiness has yet to be confirmed, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise. Acta does not stick up for his players, rarely goes out to argue (or even ask for an explanation by the umpire) and is a poor in-game manager. His encouragement is valuable, but the Nats need a good manager rather than Matt Foley. Manny's a great guy and someone I would probably trust my nonexistant kids with (of course, a lot easier to say since I don't have any), but he's just not a Major League manager at this point, even after two and a half seasons.