An article by baseball writer Joe Strauss in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a week-and-a-half ago indicates that Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa isn’t backing away from speculation that he could eventually leave the dugout and go elsewhere as a general manager. Strauss posits that there will be a number of GM jobs available this coming winter, “including in Seattle, Toronto, and potentially Washington and San Francisco.”
The speculation that the Nationals may be ready to make a change in that department has been rampant throughout baseball all season. Ask any scout for any team, or any beat writer in either league. There are a number of dynamics in play, the least of which has been the play of the team on the field.
Say what you will, but I don’t see how you can blame Jim Bowden for the injuries the Nationals have suffered this year. Most people you talk to in the game have never seen anything like it. One after the other, from opening night forward: an avalanche of maladies. You’re not going to win that often when your first-stringers are out for weeks — or months — at a time. The complaint that the club should have invested more heavily in free agents only holds water if you can specify exactly which free agents — who might’ve deigned to sign here — would have made any difference. Last winter was a lean one for free agent talent — how would Nats’ fans have reacted to Andruw Jones’ .158, 3 homers, 14 RBI? — and the upcoming crop is no better, and may be worse, beyond 3 or 4 obvious names. As it was, Willie Harris performed well above expectations. Odalis Perez was worth the investment. Pete Orr and Wil Nieves have been serviceable performers. Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada, on the other hand, were a complete waste of nearly $7 million, though injuries played a role in that as well.
People want to blame Bowden for failing to sign first round pick Aaron Crow, but I’ve yet to find anyone in the game who thinks he did anything wrong. No one from Crow’s camp has disputed the Nationals’ side of the story. Some fans believe that Bowden “should have known” about Crow’s specific demands before the draft, but it’s perfectly apparent that no one else in baseball knew the specifics either.
Make no mistake about it, Jim Bowden is not real popular with his peers, and that’s putting it mildly. His name is a lightning rod for criticism. Almost every executive or scout I speak with — and it’s a significant number — has something unflattering to say about him, off the record. He’s burned a few bridges here and there over the years, it seems.
I’ve thought for quite some time that Mike Rizzo, the club’s assistant GM and VP of Baseball Operations, was the likely successor to Bowden, whom I thought would end up with a different front office gig sooner or later. Rizzo is considered one of the rising stars in baseball administration, and if not here, he’ll surely be attractive to another club.
I don’t know for sure, but it’s probably a good bet that some front office changes will take place once the 2008 season is over. Whether those changes extend that far up the power structure of the ballclub remain to be seen.
Phil Wood is a contributor to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at [email protected].
