Comments on: Bowden & Rijo Investigated in the Dominican Republic

By: Ronny

Ronny — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:22:49 +0000

JimBo is about to be gone, FINALLY!!!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:24:46 +0000

This is sad even if a bunch of mlb personnel are being investigated, JimBo is apparently the only GM and that is disgraceful, I wonder how many years he has been doing this!?

By: Brian Oliver

Brian Oliver — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:29:18 +0000

The thing that is most troubling to me about the article is who wrote it for ESPN ... Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn.

Their track record is pretty solid.

By: Ronny

Ronny — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:31:53 +0000

That’s probably why he was fired as the Reds GM.

By: Brian Oliver

Brian Oliver — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:33:45 +0000

Ronny - I wouldn’t go that far. There were reasons for his firing in Cincinnati (poor performance on the field) but something like this was never suggested.

By: Nate

Nate — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:44:40 +0000

Wow, it took virtually no time for folks to whip out the “Jump to Conclusions” mats. Dave Littlefield, Bill Bavasi, Chuck LaMar and the like are proof that you can be a bad GM without being a criminal. How ’bout lets just leave it there for now?

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:49:49 +0000

Brian you’re right that there were other reasons for him to be fired in Cincy, but you’re not right that “something like this was never suggested.” No, stealing from kids in the DR was never suggested, but he has a real track record for being less than honest.

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:51:48 +0000

My point is that there are few GMs in baseball about which your first thought would be, “figures this guy would be the one who’s involved in something like this.” In Bowden’s case, I think a lot of people think that. It’s like a rumor about Bill Clinton screwing around. Might be false, but everyone believes it anyway.

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:02:35 +0000

For all the examples of Bowden lying, the only example of a “stealing” allegation I know about involving Bowden was the situation back when he was an assistant with the Yankees and he and Thrift were investigated by the league (and ultimately cleared) for stealing computer files from the Pirates.

Here’s the old NY Times article on it: http://tinyurl.com/583soe

By: Mjames

Mjames — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:51:23 +0000

The ESPN article implies a different tone than that put forth by Bowden.

By: Andrew S

Andrew S — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:46:25 +0000

mjames, what do you mean?

By: Marcus

Marcus — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:05:33 +0000

As Brian has said there is way to much bad PR surrounding this team right now. That 10-0 win likely gave the FO a reprieve. But serious moves need to be made with this draft class and in the offseason to the team and FO; to counter-act some of the ridiculous things that have gone down this year!

By: Mjames

Mjames — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:54:12 +0000

Andrew:

ESPN implies that Rijo and Bowden are being investigated while Bowden states he was asked questions about dealings in the DR in general and not anything specific to him or Rijo.

By: Louis J.

Louis J. — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:57:43 +0000

Brian
I understand that Bowden was questioned by the FBI & MLB. Was the questioning serious enough for him to have an attorney present? Other than Bowden’s comments,do you if any other team has said that they were questioned by the FBI? The Yankees, Red Sox, Giants and Dodgers are big players in Latin America,were they questioned? Do we know if the White Sox provided intel to the FBI about Bowden & other teams or is the FBI on a “fishing expedition”? Remember, in some of these cases, the FEDS don’t normally convict any one of the original crime but convict some one of lying or obstruction (example, Bonds & Martha Stewart and maybe Clemens).

By: Ronny

Ronny — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:44:14 +0000

Will Bowden resign? I wonder will all of this have any effect on us signing our draft picks, GOD I hope not.

By: Brian Oliver

Brian Oliver — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:48:16 +0000

Louis - Like I said, the FBI could simply be doing their due diligence in an overarching investigation. It’s just when I see the names Fainaru-Wadu & Quinn and the only specific names mentioned are associated with the Nationals, it doesn’t inspire good feelings and it’s bad PR regardless of the final outcome

By: MiLBFan

MiLBFan — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:38:24 +0000

Brian, I agree. No one should conjecture about or rejoice in a federal investigation. While no fan of Bowden, being on the receiving end of questioning by law enforcement and possibly being a target, is not to be taken lightly. As a former white collar crime prosecutor, Bowden should have an attorney present even if he is a saint. The stakes are too high for Bowden as a person, not as an employee of the Washington Nationals, to brushed off. When I was a prosecutor we were thrilled when no attorney was present - even when the person being questioned was not a target - we would always wonder why attorney was not present.
Brian raises the point that, as a business, can/should the Nats be happy with the job Bowden is doing, which includes the PR aspects. All here are innocent till proven guilty, and Bowden should not be punished (fired) based on this investigation until more come to light (to Stan and the Lerners, not us). Nevertheless, asking why there is an apparent litany of bad press/bad operations is appropriate..and I am sure is going on. Stan and the Lerners did not get to where they are by sloppy business practices.
I hope that Bowden does not become embroiled further in the investigation.

By: Ronny

Ronny — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:46:33 +0000

Brian- How will all of this effect our draft picks? Seeing that the team have other things to worry about.

By: Brian Oliver

Brian Oliver — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:00:47 +0000

Ronny - The negotiations can (and may likely) be handled by Dana Brown and/or Mike Rizzo among others.

By: Suns Fan

Suns Fan — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:24:43 +0000

One thing the Nationals do have going for them is their minor league teams close by. They have turned the vast majority of people in Hagerstown into Nationals Fans. These are people who don't really care about arguments between the City of Washington and the ownership group, draft pick signings, or corruption in the Dominican Republic.

They want to go to a ballgame and say hi to a player or a manager for as cheap as possible, and maybe go to the big leagues a few times a year and sit in the upper deck for five bucks.

These are people who watch the games when they're on UPN. But they don't read this blog. They might know Austin Kearn's average, but they don't know his slugging percentage. Ultimately, continuing along these lines is how the Nats will grow and become a successful franchise.

(The Nats would be wise to copy the Minnesota Twins and have a dollar night promotions on Tuesday--a buck for a ticket, a buck for a hot dog, a buck for a small (8 oz) soda...and yes, they can still turn (an albeit minimal) profit on that).

The Nats also have a tremendous asset to the organization in Suns Manager Darnell Coles. Yes the Suns are in a bit of a slump right now, but Coles is the perfect guy to manage young players who are going to be dealing with a foreign concept--failure. I can see a Coles-led Nats team of Rhinehart, Davis, King, Burgess, Maxwell and Daniel making the playoffs in four or five years. You must wait for good things...

By: Marcus

Marcus — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:52:07 +0000

A new angle I’ve thought of today that I’ve heard no one mention is:

What if the FBI is just looking at the Nationals as informants, so they can begin their investigation with some knowledge. I’m Assuming FBI head quarters are in the D.C. area. So it’d make sense for them to speak to us first in their investigation. Just a thought!

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:03:15 +0000

“Brian raises the point that, as a business, can/should the Nats be happy with the job Bowden is doing, which includes the PR aspects. All here are innocent till proven guilty, and Bowden should not be punished (fired) based on this investigation until more come to light (to Stan and the Lerners, not us). Nevertheless, asking why there is an apparent litany of bad press/bad operations is appropriate..and I am sure is going on.”

This is exactly correct, but the other pattern that exists is the dishonesty. If you are Jeff Shaw or Ron Oester, Alfonso Soriano, or Wayne Krivsky right now you are thinking, “when’s this liar going to stop getting away with it?”

By: Dick

Dick — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:23:34 +0000

NF@FJB: I have no idea of what you mean about Alfonso Soriano. Also, you left out Kevin Towers, didn’t you?

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:18:58 +0000

Bowden claimed when he acquired Soriano that he would have never done the deal if he had known that he wouldn’t play 2b. He talked all about his sympathy for the player but blamed the Rangers for not allowing him to talk to Soriano.

It was clear at the time that Soriano didn’t want to move (or else the Yankees would have moved him years earlier), and that if there was any doubt, the Rangers refusal to let us talk to him should have been a pretty clear sign.

So for Bowden to claim that he was somehow caught unawares and that he never would have done the deal if only he’d known strains credulity.

Re: Towers, I’ve blogged about that, but I’m not sure that’s a matter of Bowden being dishonest so much as a show-boating jerk. It’s another aspect of Bowden’s baggage–that many GMs just HATE him–but I’m not sure Kevin Towers calling him an idiot is relevant to whether he has a pattern of lying or not.

By: Dick

Dick — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:50:24 +0000

NF@FJB: I guess I still don’t get it. Didn’t Soriano play left field here and wasn’t he an all-star? Didn’t he play LF because WE wanted him to, not because HE didn’t want to play 2b?

There’s a lot been said about the Soriano deal, particularly about him leaving. But it is a LONG reach to say Bowden erred in getting Soriano to play for us rather than making us endure Wilkerson for another season!

By: Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden

Nationals Fan @ Fire Jim Bowden — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:05:01 +0000

I’m not talking about whether that deal was good or not. I’m talking about how he lied. Yeah, he ultimately muscled Soriano into doing something he didn’t want to do, and in the process hurt Soriano’s rep by making him look like a selfish, unlikable guy, but I think when you do things like that, you pay a price. Players and agents don’t trust you in the future to treat their players right.

You gotta think about that every time we don’t make a trade that should be doable or don’t sign a guy who we want to come here.

By: Dick

Dick — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:30:05 +0000

I’m no Bowden defender but it is a long reach to say he did anything bad to Soriano. Alfonso has 138 million reasons for loving JimBow!

By: Jean

Jean — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:47:33 +0000

Bowden is garbage…He needs to leave along with his hot wife…Go Lannan