WE DID IT!!

Jim Bowden is no longer our GM! We finally did it!

2 questions

Who will be the Nats' new whipping boy?


Who should (not necessarily will) be the new GM?


Monday edit-I apologize, the polls don't seem to be working. Hopefully they will soon. And from now on, he will be known as "he who will never be named again," or HWWNBNA for short.

Could this be it?

Straight from Chico:

The Nationals...are waiting to find out, and want to learn more about Bowden's possible involvement in a growing baseball-wide scandal before they determine whether he retains his job. But behind the scenes, according to sources, some within the team's ownership group -- which includes Managing Principal Owner Theodore N. Lerner, seven principal owners and nine founding partners -- are eager to cut ties with the general manager they inherited almost three years ago, and see the investigation as a way of facilitating Bowden's exit. The Nationals, one source said, are encouraging the investigation to return an answer on Bowden so the parties can "go on their merry way."

Please let this be true!! I was beginning to believe that something terrible was happening-that the ownership actually wanted Bowden to stay so they would have a sca

pegoat for their cheapness. But if they finally can him now, all of those thoughts would be erased. PLEASE, LERNER FAMILY, DO WHAT IS RIGHT!

Do it for the fans!

(Nats320)

Do it for the Nation's Capital!

(gwhatchet.com)

Heck, DO IT FOR THE NATION! THE UNITED STATES ARE COUNTING ON YOU, THEODORE N. LERNER. DO WHAT IS RIGHT! DO IT FOR BARACK, DUBYA, BRITNEY SPEARS AND SANTA CLAUS, JUST DO IT!!!!

We interrupt the previously scheduled blog...

because Jim Bowden is being investegated by the Feds!

Per Nats Journal:

Melissa Segura of SI.com, who broke the Esmailyn Gonzalez story, reports that Jim Bowden is being investigated by federal investigators for skimming signing bonuses as far back as 1994 when he was with the Cincinnati Reds. Segura's source is "a baseball executive familiar with the investigation."

All I've got to say is PLEASE GOD LET THIS BE THE FINAL STRAW!!!

Still need 3

For Natmosphere fantasy baseball (Yahoo! league).

Email me at sean dot t dot hogan at gmail dot com if you're interested.

P.S.-Nothing to say on Smiley. What other opinion could I possibly have? Rijo and Bowden should be gone, though-this should be the last straw.

ZOMG WE GOT HIM!!!

COREY PATTERSON IS A NATIONAL!!!!!!!! Ok, that was unneccesary. JORGE "SAMMY AIN'T GOT NOTHIN' ON ME" SOSA IS A NATIONAL!!!!! Ouch, the awful signings keep on coming. At least these are no-risk minor league signings. (EDIT-MLBTR says Sosa will earn $850k and Patterson will earn $800k. Goodness gracious, will somebody give me the dang GM job? At least I wouldn't go around signing awful players to contracts more than the league minimum).

And it looks like we lost out on the main prize of the offseason, Mark Teixeira. It will either be Nicky J/Da Meat Hook/Brad Eldred (can I just call him Breldred?) or Adam Dunn at 1B. It's ok, I'd rather have O-Dog at 2B and Adam Dunn than just Tex.

ANOTHER EDIT-the Nats signed 3 other guys to minor league deals: 

IF Jose Castillo

LHP-Gustavo Chacin

C-Gustavo Molina

And I'll put up Sosa/Patterson's BR pages too:

RHP Jorge Sosa

CF Corey Patterson

Initial thoughts: All are meh. Chacin, Sosa and Patterson have all had exactly 1 standout season (and by standout I mean OPS+ or ERA+ above 100....so really just 1 "above average" season).

I take it back

The Cabrera signing isn't an awful signing as I called it last post. Terms have come out.

ESPN says the deal is worth $2.6 million.

This rivals the LoDuca/Fatstrada/Mackowiakkkkk signings from last year. What happened to being responsible with our $?

Did Steven at FJB wish for infinite ammo at Bowden for Christmas? He certainly got it.

I AM ANGRY!

Goodbye, Chief

You deserved better than this. Best of luck wherever free agency takes you.

(photo-The Washington Times)

Bowden fails us again

Jim Bowden, your time is officially up. For all intents and purposes, you are dead to me. I will no longer acknowledge your role as Nationals General Manager, because that can't possibly be your job. Your job is to screw this team over moreso than MLB did in the early 2000s.

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, Bowden let Crow slip away. You might think Crow's demands were what kept the deal from happening...but no, it was Jim Bowden (whose intelligence ranks up there with elephant turds) who kept the deal from happening.

From BaseballAmerica:

One source indicated the Crow camp, led by his agents the Hendricks Brothers, dropped their demands to $4 million from the $8-$10 million range, and that the Nationals came up from slot to $3.3 million, but that the two sides ran out of time and wiggle room and couldn’t work out a compromise.

Jim Bowden lost out on Aaron Crow over $700k. Are you freakin' kidding me? Running out of time is absolutely not an excuse, as they've had more than 2 months to figure this stuff out. $700k, really? That's just embarrassing. Bowden, you're an embarrassment and continue to prove it time and time again.

If the Lerner family ever wants to field a winning team (something I consistently doubt), they need to pay off Bowden for whatever he's got that blackmails the family and get him a plane ticket to Guyana.

In other news, Bowden's ineptitude for building a team showed again tonight, as the Nats lost their 8th straight game. Bleck. At least the Cubs are rolling (5 wins in a row). Otherwise, I might pronounce the 2008 MLB season officially dead.

Tonight's your chance to vandalize Bowden's Wikipedia page.

And tonight's the Nats' night to fire Bowden. DO IT!!!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When no news isn't good news

Still no real word on Aaron Crow. I know everyone's saying all of the 1st round guys who are unsigned are just waiting for one domino to fall, but if he's really asking for $8-9 mil and an ML contract, I'm not confident he'll be signed. Whether or not he's worth that price is a different story, but am I the only one that doubts the Nats will give him even half of that? When he signs, I'll be happy. Until then, I'll be skeptical, especially when I keep reading articles like this.

Why is Odalis Perez still on our team? His last 3 starts have all been quality ones (6 IP or more while allowing 3 ER or less). He's got a 2.79 ERA and a 2-0 record in those 3 starts. And he's got a 4.12 ERA for the year while only making $1 mil. AND HE'S A LEFTY! I can't help but believe this is another instance where JimBow is asking for the moon and we'll end up with nothing to show for it. I find it hard to believe we can't score a Jhonny Nunez-level player for Odalis, so just like in Crow's situation, I'll be wearing my skeptical pants for now.

One last thing: would anyone be interested in a contest? There wouldn't be any prizes or anything (I am a poor college student, you know), but you would get the pride of knowing you're the best Nationals fan in the world. Email me your list of guys who you think the Nats will call up when rosters expand on September 1. I'll compile the winners that day and announce them afterwards. Sound like fun?

That's about all I've got for now. Check out Steven's interview with Baseball America Editor John Manuel here. As I posted in Steven's comments today, FireJimBowden is a daily must-read. You may not agree with everything, but it's still worth reading. I wonder what he'll call his blog when Bowden is fired?

Mailbag answers

Will the Nationals spend some money to acquire Major League players this offseason? I appreciate them building the farm system, but I can't wait forever. What do you think of trying to sign a big-dollar player?
-- Ryan K., Washington D.C.

I'm cautiously optimistic the Nats will spend some money this offseason, but not for a big-name guy. We're talking wasting dollars on more guys like Lo Pukea, Fatsrada, Mackowisuck, etc. rather than going after someone who might return the investment like C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets.

I was at two Nationals games recently, and Alberto Gonzalez plays outstanding defense and covers a lot of territory. With that in mind, who will be the Opening Day shortstop next year?
-- Brian G., Richmond, Va.

Um...seriously? Gonzalez can play some good defense, but his bat is probably closer to Jesus Colome's than Jesus Flores'.

Unless this is a trick question. Guzman's chance of starting on Opening Day is usually about 50/50, depending on his health.

I recently heard on the radio that Ryan Zimmerman doesn't have a good relationship with the Nationals organization. Please tell me this is only a rumor.
-- Xavier N., Houston

Does this surprise anyone? Ladson says it's just a rumor, but I'm skeptical. Only time will tell, but after the way our bridges were burned with the Chief, I wouldn't be surprised.

Are there any updates on Shawn Hill? Can we expect him to pitch again this season?
-- Jeff, D., Alex., Va.

This belongs to Ladson: "There is an update. He is currently on a throwing program and the Nationals are hoping he can pitch in the big leagues by Sept. 1.

When can we expect to see guys like Justin Maxwell, Chris Marrero, Mike Daniel, and Michael Burgess to be called up to the big leagues?
-- Jeff, D. Alex., Va.

Maxwell-2009 at some point, 2010 for good (if he's ever healthy, which is unlikely)
Marrero-2010 cup of coffee, 2011 for good (if he stays healthy and doesn't regress)
Daniel-2009 at some point, 2011 for good (if he's ever good enough)
Burgess-2010 mid-season callup, up for good (most confident that Burgess will be the star of these 4)

Does Austin Kearns really have a future in Major League Baseball? This is the second season that he has been terrible with the bat, and it doesn't seem to be improving. He is also a rally killer.
-- Patrick B., Fairfax, Va.

Kearns is not this bad. Something's wrong with him physically. He'll be fine next year (assuming he's healthy).

With no one to take Nick Johnson's place in the Minors, are the Nationals going to give him one more chance to be the everyday first baseman?
-- Steven S., Washington, D.C.

They'll continue to give him chances for the length of his contract (which means through the end of next season). I doubt they'll sign a free agent of any real value, but expect to see some combination of Rhinehart, Montz, Casto, Broadway and Jimenez there next year.

Might I add that this would be a great time to have Josh Whitesell and his .331/.428/.564 AAA line. But JimBow decided that it would be more important to have Lo Duca, Estrada and Mackowiak on the 40-man roster (just like he decided it was more important to have Matt LeCroy in 2006 than Darrell Rasner). And when he dumped Claudio Vargas on waivers. And on and on....

That's another shortcoming of Bowden-he is awful with waivers.

OK, I have reached my boiling point now with Bowden. The way he handled the Chad Cordero situation just oozes lack of decency and sportsmanship. Chad has been a warrior for the Expos/Nationals and for Bowden to treat him like that -- announcing to the media that he would be non-tendered -- was uncalled for.
-- Tim R., Auburn, N.Y.

I'm equally appalled. FIRE BOWDEN!!!!!1!!!one!!

Fun Friday

I'm sitting in Panera once again. They have amazing iced tea. So good that I have gone through 4 cups of it in the last half hour. But anyways...

According to Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News (via MLBTR), "Speculation around the Nationals is that vice president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo is positioned to replace Jim Bowden as general manager." Not exactly big news, but it's refreshing to hear it come from non-Nationals bloggers (I'm looking at you, Steven on Capitol Hill).

It's really tough for me be excited about this team right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the guys, their energy and their winning habits (6 of the last 7? OMG!!!). But all of my excitement from the "New Nats" (or as my blogger friend the Scholastic Scribe would probably call them, the "Gnu Gnats") is drained by how angry I still am toward the management. We need to spend money and we need to sign our draft picks. Sadly, all I can do is say "meh" and try and move on. But if August 15 comes and we don't have all 5 of these draft picks signed, I'm gonna go nuts. Fire Bowden, Kasten, The Lerners, etc.

Was anyone else as immensely amused by this as I was? A Tecmo Bowl matchup of Milledge and Dukes? That's awesome! So awesome that I spent the last hour playing Tecmo Bowl on my laptop here at Panera. That would probably explain why all of the 30something yuppies are staring at me.

Nothing else is really happening. The Olympics are on tonight, and anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with them. If you see someone dressed in red white and blue chanting "U-S-A! ALL THE WAY!," it's probably me. If anything exciting happens today, I'll probably give my thoughts then (cough ODALIS TRADE?!?!?!?! cough). If not, I'll be back on either tomorrow or Sunday.

Unacceptable

I'm trying very hard to not throw something. Things like this really tick me off:

Nationals president Stan Kasten acknowledged on Tuesday that the team most likely will not sign all of its top picks. Kasten declined to say which players he felt were unsignable. However, late last week, general manager Jim Bowden said negotiations with Crow, the Nats' top pick, weren't going well. Crow is represented by advisor J.D. Smart, who works for the Hendricks brothers. Smart was not available for comment.

"I'm sure we'll sign some more of our picks, but I don't think we will sign all of them, but we will try," Kasten said. "We studied this pretty carefully. We decide the value that we place on prospects. That's the No. 1 consideration. Sometimes it's more than Major League Baseball's recommendations, sometimes it's less than the recommendations.

If the Nationals are unable to sign their top Draft picks, the money slotted for them would most likely go toward signing young players outside the United States. (My note...yeah and O.J. is innocent and 9/11 was actually a vast right-wing conspiracy).

In fact, Kasten told the Nationals' board of directors right after the Draft that the team would most likely not sign most of its picks like it did last year. He told them it would be similar to the 2006 Draft, when the team didn't sign four of its first 12 picks, including left-hander Sean Black, its second-round pick. (My note...great....the memorable 2006 draft...and Sean Black is right-handed).

This year's Draft is in sharp contrast to last year's for the Nationals. In 2007, the Nationals signed their first 20 picks. They even went over the slotting system to sign pitcher Jack McGeary, a sixth-round pick who signed first-round money.

"[The 2008] Draft felt like one of those years where we wouldn't sign all of our top picks, which is like a normal year. Last year was an aberration," Kasten said. "This Draft has felt [different] to me, because of the kind of guys we drafted and some of their circumstances, and I think that's how it's playing out. (My note...why does last year have to be an aberration? If we want success, we need to sign all of our top 10 draft picks. Always. Always always always. No excuses).

"Last year, we were among the leaders in amateur signing bonuses. We are prepared to do that this year, but we are not going to do unreasonable contracts."

After finally taking a step forward with the draft last year, here are two steps back. There is no point to The Plan if you can't sign your draft picks. None. This is absolutely inexcusable and the entire front office should be fired if 4 of the top 5 picks aren't signed. Or 3. Or even 2. If you are drafting guys who figure to be asking more than the slot amount, you better be freakin' prepared to open up your wallets. Or only draft 1 guy who might not sign. Don't draft 5 in the first 5 rounds! This is ridiculously pathetic and the Lerner Family, Jim Bowden and Stan Kasten should all be ashamed of themselves for continuing the losing tradition as well as the poor products both on the field and in the minors. Fire Bowden. Fire Kasten. Force out the Lerners (By boycotting games, Bud Selig, whatever. Just do it). We want a real owner and real guys in the front office and a real team. Get rid of the dirtbags who are standing in our way of a respectable team, something these nitwits aren't capable of even coming close to. This cheapness has got to stop here and now, forever.

You're losing us once again, but this time you've almost lost us completely.

And I'll close by asking the Nationals to please make me eat my words. Prove me wrong. Make me ashamed of doubting you. But for goodness sake, quit being so embarrassing from top to bottom. The fans and players are first class people (although the players are for the most part second class ballplayers), but the ownership and top dogs in the front office are amongst the worst in professional sports already.

[/rant]

Monday Roundup

The New Nats had a great weekend, sweeping the Reds.

In game one (5-2 Nats), Odalis Perez threw 7 and 1/3 innings, scattering 3 hits and allowing a single run. If he had done this last week, the game would have been pitched by the likes of Clippard/Mock/Zimmermann, as Perez would be in a different uniform by now. It did raise his value, I'm sure (beleive it or not, he has a 4.16 ERA), as many contenders could use a cheap solid lefty starter signed only through this year.

In game two (10-6 Nats), the Nats tagged their former teammates Bill Bray and Gary Majewski for 1 and 2 runs, respectively. Bray let in one inheirited runner whereas Majewski allowed 3, so 7 of the 10 runs were either scored while the two were on the mound or by runners that reached base against the two. Millz with Thrillz and Belliard both hit homers while Emilio "Bad to the" Bonifacio had a double and a triple. While watching this game, I came to realize that this team, no matter how bad it was, is now really really exciting. Bonifacio, Harris, Milledge, Dukes and Gonzalez all have great speed and can make things happen, and the double play combination of Emilio and Alberto seems to produce at least one web gem per game. Combine this with timely hitting from Flores and Kearns (and Zimmerman when he returns) and you have a decent ballclub. And don't look now, but Ayala threw his third straight shutout inning. Just sayin'.

In game three (4-2 Nats), rookie Collin Balester tossed his second straight solid outing, going 5 and 1/3 innings while only allowing 1 run on 6 hits. Balester now has 10 strikeouts against only 2 walks in his last two starts (totalling 11 and 1/3 innings) and topped 100 pitches for only the second time this year. Bonifacio had another 2 hits, raising his average from .167 to .280 in the series while Milledge hit another blast (and went 1/2 in stolen bases). Kearns had his second straight 3 hit game and is now hitting .293/.355/.414 since returning from the DL a month ago.

The bullpen was awesome this weekend, throwing 8 and 1/3 innings and only allowing 2 runs (both by Hanrahan). I wouldn't worry, though. Hanrahan allowed one run in a non-save situation on Friday and another with a 3-run lead on Sunday. He'll be fine.

And on another note, this is certainly something I'm happy to hear:

Ever since the Trade Deadline, when Washington released its veterans and acquired shortstop Alberto Gonzalez, the Nationals have been playing with a windfall of energy and a renewed sense of enthusiasm.

They picked up their first home three-game sweep of the season on Sunday, scoring 19 runs, while allowing just nine, and hitting .330 -- well above their season average of .240

Pete Orr talked about the change after Saturday's come-from-behind 10-6 win, saying that the Nationals are feeding off one another.

"If you don't get excited watching the last two games, then you're not a baseball fan," Orr said.

Orr added that the hustle of Gonzalez and new double-play partner Emilio Bonifacio -- recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Friday -- is starting to rub off on teammates.

"Everything carries over," Orr said. "You watch those guys play, you get excited, and when you get a chance to do something, you want to do it, too."

Notice that it's the energy of the new guys that gets the credit, not the good pickups by Bowden or bood hitting strategy compiled by Lenny. They probably have till the rest of the season to plead their respective cases. If the next two months go like this, they could be retained (notice the groans from bloggers everywhere...but read this and see why Bowden won't be back...two words: economic irresponsibility). Be carefully optimistic, though, because the Old Nats started the season 3-0 also.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY PART 2!!

MASN is reporting that Failipe Lopez and Paul Lo Duca have been released by the Nats to clear room for Emilio Bonifacio and Elijah Dukes, both of whom are being called up from AAA.

One word:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

My life is oh so much better now that these two veterans who offer very little to the team and nothing beyond 2008. Finally, JimBow has admitted two of his mistakes. It's still way too late, and he still needs to be fired, but at least he dumped these two deadbeats.

Also-The Nats also traded minor league righthanded Jhonny Nunez to the Yankees for IF Alberto Gonzalez. From the looks of it, Gonzalez is an all-glove, no-hit SS. Jhonny Nunez will probably not be a Major League pitcher, as 22 year olds in A ball with 5.22 ERA's are pretty easy to come by. Looks good enough to me, I've seen enough no-glove, no-hit infielders in Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton to last me a lifetime.

Believe it or not, but it could be worse

I'd say it's much worse to be an Astros fan at this point than a Nats fan. Despite being 9.5 games (and 6 teams) out of the Wild Card and 12.5 games (and 3 teams) out of the NL Central lead, the Astros keep trading prospects for mediocre ML guys. First they traded Chad Reineke to San Diego for Randy Wolf, and today they traded Matthew Cusick to the Yankees for LaTroy Hawkins. Wolf and Hawkins are both past their prime (with ERA+s of 82 and 73, respectively) while Reineke and Cusick both look semi-promising (Reineke has a career minor league ERA of 3.71 and 8.8 K/9 in his fifth minor league season while Cusick has a career OPS of .835 through a year and a half).

But then again, when I read this off of Nationals.com and this from Nationals Journal, I begin to wonder.
The key quote from the Nationals.com article:

Indeed, Nationals pitchers -- especially young ones in the Majors and Minors -- are attractive to other teams. Bowden declined to mention the hurlers that teams want, but a baseball source said Jason Bergmann, Garrett Mock, Ross Detwiler and Adrian Alaniz have been mentioned in trade discussions.

Wat. Trading Detwiler would be one of the more incompetent things, EVER. His value is at an all-time low. Let him regain his value. Bergmann is one guy who I can see going nuts with like a 2.50 ERA if he's dealt. Keep him. Mock is more of a fringe ML guy and Alaniz is still way far away (and doesn't have incredibly impressive stuff), so I would understand moving either of them for other prospects. But Bergmann and Detwiler shouldn't be moved until they're at peak value.

And then we have this (from Nats Journal):

Chico Harlan: Speaking of pitching/progress, has any been made with (first-round pick) Aaron Crow in negotiations?

Bowden: No.

CH: Do you think you'll have him signed by the Aug. 15 deadline?

JB: Don't know that. We're working hard trying to sign all the guys that are unsigned.

If we don't sign all of our top 5 picks (and when I say all, I mean Aaron Crow, Danny Espinoza, Graham Hicks and Adrian Nieto), I'll go nuts. "The Plan" is worthless if there is no stream of top-of-the-line talent into. Having the same pick next year would both set us back a whole 'nother year while at the same time making us the laughingstock of baseball (maybe even moreso than the Mariners and Astros franchises...note that 4 of the teams Randy Johnson has played for are run by incompetent nitwits...MON, SEA, HOU, NYY. Arizona, watch out. If Byrnes ever leaves, you're screwed).

Enough is enough

Read the post.
Sign the petition.