Jim Bowden resigns

March 1, 11:43 AMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden has resigned his position amidst a bonus skimming scandal that has launched an FBI investigation of Bowden, who has been accused of stealing bonus money from Latin American prospects for personal gain.  To make matters worse, Bowden’s special assistant Jose Rijo was fired last Thursday for his connection to Carlos Alvarez David Lugo (formerly Esmailyn Gonzalez), the shortstop prospect who received a $1.4M signing bonus only to be discovered to be falsifying his name and age.  Bowden explained his decision best by saying,

 “I’ve become a distraction.  Unless you’re Manny Ramirez , there is no place for distraction in baseball.”

Bowden assumed the GM position in Washington upon the team’s relocation from Montreal in 2004.  At that time the team had no ownership group, and Bowden was left with the task of ridding the team of older veterans and assembling young talent.  He has made some questionable trades and signings, but has been able to draft pretty well – the Nationals have added Ryan Zimmerman, Chris Marrero, and Jordan Zimmerman under Bowden’s leadership.

As I mentioned above, Bowden has often been criticized for his trades and signings.  He’s brought in an inordinate amount of ex-Cincinnati Reds players, many of whom he became acquainted with while serving as the Reds GM from 1992-2003.  Such players have included Austin Kearns, Ryan Wagner, Wily Mo Pena, and Felipe Lopez.  Furthermore he was accused in 2006 of dealing damaged goods to Cincinnati, when it was discovered that Nationals pitcher Gary Majewski had an injured shoulder before being dealt to the Reds.

This had to happen, and I think everyone knew it would.  Bowden has a checkered past and seems to take no responsibility for this event, as evidenced by his personal statement.  The Nationals have not improved very much under Bowden, so he was probably on the hot seat anyway – couple that with a bonus skimming scandal, and you’ve pretty much punched your ticket out.  It is not known who will replace Bowden as GM, but hopefully with some transparency and good decisions in the front office, Nationals fans can trust their team again.