{ 2008 07 11 }

Bowden & Rijo Investigated in the Dominican Republic

ESPN has the story.

Federal authorities and Major League Baseball are investigating Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden and special assistant Jose Rijo for their possible roles in a growing financial scandal involving the signing of players from the Dominican Republic, several sources familiar with the probe told ESPN.

Comments from Bowden

Reached in his office Friday evening, Bowden said he and other Nationals officials have spoken to both the FBI and MLB’s investigators, as have officials from other clubs. But he said neither the FBI nor Major League Baseball have told him he is suspected of taking part in the scheme or in any way suspected of wrongdoing. Bowden said he was never asked about his own activities, and denied having any role in the scandal.
“No, I’ve certainly not gotten that approach from baseball or the FBI,” he said. “There’s obviously no truth to that. As far as the rest of this goes, they’re probably better questions for the FBI or baseball.”

We certainly have to be cautious here with accusations but needless to say these reports are not necessarily good news.

The mentioning of “financial scandal” tends for me to believe the questions are similar to those that led to the firing of the Chicago White Sox Director of Scouting and two scouts.

It was unclear whether Bowden and Rijo are suspected of receiving money or whether they are believed to have played some other role in the scheme.

As I mentioned in my posting a week or so ago about this topic. The FBI might simply be doing their due diligence in their investigations in questionable practices in the Dominican Republic.

After MLB received its tip in March, its investigations department launched a wide-ranging examination of signing practices in the Dominican — a probe that has led to allegations involving employees of several clubs, including Bowden and other Nationals employees, sources said.

However, this story bears watching closely because it has the potential to turn into something that neither Bowden/Rijo (obviously) nor the Nationals want.

Update …

In the near term, the repercussions of this are likely minimal. However, the visceral reaction I have immediately is this is another in a series of bad public relations stories surrounding the Nationals just this week. The mounting number of injuries (possibly Dmitri Young tonight), the Washington Post story on the argument between the Lerners and the city regarding the stadium, the reported MASN numbers, and the rumblings about the Nationals being a slot team in draft negotiations.

They say there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I beg to differ. This is in no way helpful to a team struggling.

One thing that concerns me in the long term is how this might impact the Nationals internationally. The implication of unethical actions are out there and it cannot be good for what the Nationals are hoping to do in rebuilding the franchise from the farm system up. There is a certain degree of trust that is lost when stories like this are released and the Nationals will likely have to reassure their international contacts that these are isolated incidences and not endemic to their overall operations.

Update 2 …

Chico Harlan has a few new quotes from Bowden

Asked if he had any knowledge of or involvement with money skimming within the Washington organization, Bowden said, “No. Absolutely not.”
“There’s no wrongdoing. No. We’ve met with FBI investigators. There are many people throughout baseball that are going to be talking with the FBI and major league baseball trying to help get all the information out there for the problems that exist over there. We’re there to help. But at no time when I met with the FBI were the questions involving around myself or Jose Rijo.”

Posted by Brian Oliver on Friday, July 11th, 2008, at 9:23 pm, and filed under Management, International.

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