Mike Rizzo was informed Tuesday that he was the Lerner family's choice as the Nationals' general manager. The idea was to delay the announcement until Friday when Stephen Strasburg makes his appearance at Nationals Park, which meant Rizzo had to spend all Wednesday fielding calls about the streaming media reports that he'd been fired and replaced by Jerry DiPoto. While amusing, since Rizzo already had the permanent job for 24 hours, the report was a source of speculative embarrassment."My [19-year-old] son even said, 'I thought you were staying; now it's scrolled on television that you're out,'" Rizzo says. "I had to assure him everything would be all right." And on Wednesday night, the Lerners and Stan Kasten ended the firing frenzy.Give the Lerners and Kasten credit; both Jed Hoyer and DiPoto would be terrific general managers. But retaining Rizzo as the full-time general manager is right and just. He has begun the overhaul of the team's culture; the Nyjer Morgan deal gave the Nats stronger middle-of-the-field defense and an improving hitter. And with Morgan's work taking balls live off the bat in BP, he has provided the Nats with a second work-ethic leader to go with the tireless Ryan Zimmerman. It was Rizzo who had a great deal to do with getting the Strasburg deal completed. According to Scott Boras, Rizzo stepped away from the Nats' 22-person war room, went into his office and effectively got the deal done with Boras. It was Rizzo who got the Strasburg family's trust when he went to their house and laid out his developmental plan -- no gimmicky ticket sales appearances in Washington in September (he hasn't pitched since May), a throwing program leading up to the Florida Instructional League, 5-6 starts in the Arizona Fall League, a total of approximately 40 innings between the instructional and Arizona leagues, then a major league invite to spring training. "We want Stephen pitching a long time for the Nationals," Rizzo says. "So we will be very cautious." He explained to the family that because pitching requires so much more effort in the big leagues, 160 major league innings is the equivalent of 200 minor league innings. And the family liked what they heard.Rizzo has a long way to go to build the organization. The Nationals have only four professional scouts, the front office is bare, they must get a Latin American program up and running and they need to work on the development group.It's clear the way the Lerners handled the Rizzo hiring that they are fair and committed to allowing the reconstruction of the organization. They want Zimmerman and Morgan and Strasburg to be the faces of the franchise.Is there a long way to go? Sure, but they are not alone. Look at the Mets and how this season has aged a very good man named Omar Minaya. Will he be back? Likely, with the respected John Ricco given more responsibilities. What will happen to Billy Wagner? Considering the potential disruption factor, if someone were to claim him Friday, they might let that team take the $2.75 million remaining on his deal; more likely, he'll get offered arbitration, turn it down and the Mets will get two draft picks. And when Carlos Beltran (who is not having microfracture surgery) gets back, when they can figure out whether or not to tender John Maine, and why Oliver Perez is down from 95-97 mph to 88-91, they can repair and rebuild.No, the Nats are not passing the Mets any time soon. But they have life.People can complain about the draft compensation system, but the fact is that the worst team in baseball in 2008 got the best individual talent in the 2009 draft. And now that Stephen Strasburg is a Nat and Rizzo has been handed the job he earned, baseball in Washington can proceed.