Get off Riggs back.

Jon Heyman of SI.com wrote a good article on Jim Riggleman's resignation. It was good to hear the point of view of someone who cares to look at both sides of the story. The knee-jerk reaction by many folks in the sports media was to call him a quitter. Joe Lemire, also of SI.com calls Riggleman selfish.

Sorry, I just don't buy that.

Cubs fans remember him from his days managing the team from 1995 -1999, where he led them to a wild card appearance in '98. For 29 years, as a manager in the major and minor leagues, he's seen the disturbing trend play itself out over and over again: a winning skipper doesn't always keep his job, but a losing one will certainly be shown the door.

Is it too much to ask, given the leverage players with guaranteed contracts have, to show him the money? Or, as was apparent, if you're weren't going to keep him around at the end of the season anyway, just let him go. Riggleman probably got tired of being the manager who is the placeholder for a more famous or infamous manager.

He had a losing career record but you'd have one too if you're stops included the Padres, Cubs, Mariners and Nationals.

Imagine you get hired into a shipper job where everything is in shambles. They say you're on a one-year contract. You clean up the place, set some ground rules, get a nice workflow going, then, after your year is up, you're told you won't be getting re-hired. Then they hire some hotshot guy with a glowing personality and pay him 3 times as much to run the department you helped get out of the gutter.

I'm guessing after it happens to you a few times and you see it happen to others numerous times, you might be a little bitter too.

So if Riggs had stayed and played along with the sham, he'd be out of a job come October and have a lot less pride. He leaves now with his integrity intact. And for those who say he should honor his contract, as GM Mike Rizzo accused him of...GM's fire managers all of the time mid-contract, even if it's not the managers fault the team is losing. How is that honorable?

Riggleman did what he thought was right. That should be enough for anybody.