One Saga Ends; Another Begins

Here we are, back for the season. This is going to be an interesting summer here at TABC so I encourage everyone to stick around to see what I have in store. The plans and ideas aren't firmed up yet, but I think they'll turn out nice. You'll hear about them soon.

Jim Bowden has finally abandoned ship, and in the process, ended a strange and somewhat prodigious journey as Commander of the Washington Nationals/Cincinnati Reds. Any long-time reader knows that all GMs fall into three categories here; 1) Good and smart, (Dave Dombrowski, Tigers), 2) Mysteriously strange moves that don't seem to make much sense, (Steinbrenner & Co.), or 3) Comically awful, with no evidence of rational thought present in any decision-making process, (Bill Bavasi, Jim Bowden).

This man has no concept of position management. He trades for and signs players that play positions he already has filled. Prior to the 2006 season, he traded for Alfonso Soriano. Soriano had previously said that he would never consider switching positions, as his offensive power at 2B would earn him far more than it would in the OF. Bowden, having a 2B in Jose Vidro and having traded away his OF, did so anyway, under the assumption that Soriano would do the nice thing and switch anyway. During the off-season, he did not attempt to work out the situation with his new LF2B. In fact, he waited until the first spring training game of the season to bring the issue up. Even then, he did so by proxy, having Frank Robinson pen Alfonso into the lineup card at LF. Alfonso's response? "No. Put me at second, or I don't play." Slight miscalculation, Jim. Of course, we remember that amid threats of placement on the DQ list, Soriano buckled and trotted out to left.

This offseason, Bowden decided he was bringing in Adam Dunn. He signed him to a 2-year, $20 million contract and, apparently, failed to check the depth chart before doing so. Dunn is a great player. Amazingly, that is actually a semi-reasonable price as well. However, you already have a 1B, (Nick Johnson). And a LF, (Josh Willingham/Willy Mo Pena). You can debate about these guys' abilities, but what matters is that they are already on the roster. Word is the Nats are likely to put Dunn at 1B, which knocks out Johnson and his $5.5 million a year, 30-year-old "upside" that everyone is still waiting to come to fruition. Where do you stash Johnson? Do you try to move him? Good idea. One problem, no one wants a career .270 1B for $6 million. Uh, whoops?

After this, Bowden finally showed himself the exit. Amazingly, this isn't even the reason Bowden resigned. He resigned because he was, quite frankly, a liar and thief. His "methods" are so ruinous that a column in the Cincinnati Enquirer opened with, "The problem was never that James G. Bowden IV wasn't smart. The problem was, he thought he was smarter than everyone else." The details are sketchy and they need not be our chief concern here, but it seems he took a little off the top of some signing bonuses which were sent to players down south. See the linked article above if you're interested.

That's all for now. Keep checking back; we'll be working our way up to a regular posting schedule by season opening.

What was Jim Bowden thinking? - March 21, 2006
Bowden's fifth tool was hubris (Cincinnati Enquirer) - March 2, 2009