As the we all start to ponder what the Nationals might do this off season, and as it becomes increasingly apparent that the Lerners are saying, "heck of a job, Jimmy!" I thought I'd offer this list of former Bowden properties from the Reds who will be available this off-season, just for reference.
I'm leaving out any Pokey Reese / Bret Boone-type potential un-retirements, although by no means do I consider such an event unlikely (Reggie Sanders, anyone?). I'm also leaving out former Reds who never played for Bowden's Reds, like Josh Fogg or Eric Milton, since Jim's never really had a taste for those guys. And I'm leaving off current Nationals / former Reds free agents like Aaron Boone.
But if I missed anyone, which is certainly possible (there are so many crappy former Bowden properties floating around out there), feel free to let me know.
Catchers
Paul Bako
Jason La Rue
First Basemen
Ben Broussard
Sean Casey
Mark Sweeney
Middle Infield
Juan Castro
Felipe Lopez
Third Basemen
Russell Branyan
Outfielders
Emil Brown
Mike Cameron ($10M club option for '09 with a $750K buyout)
Adam Dunn
Juan Encarnacion
Ken Griffey ($16.5M club option for '09 with a $4M buyout)
Rob Mackowiak
Starting Pitchers
Ryan Dempster
Shawn Estes
Brett Tomko
David Wells
Relief Pitchers
Joe Borowski
Jim Brower
Elmer Dessens
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Fox
Trevor Hoffman
Ray King
Kent Mercker
Trever Miller ($2M club option, $400K buyout)
Chris Reitsma
Dennys Reyes
Ron Villone
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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10 comments:
Mmmmmm, Sean Casey. We need a slick fielding first baseman wityhout ideal power who walks a lot but is injury prone. We don't have one of those . . .
Casey was on my predicted OD roster over on the DC Sports Plus "guess the roster contest."
Frankly, it would make sense to add a guy who would be adequate if needed or come off the bench. Any of those 3 first basemen wouldn't shock me. But Casey stands out as the Red most likely to be reunited with Bowden this year.
Not to imply there would be just one. Based on past track record, we should anticipate picking up 2-3 of these guys at least.
After Casey, I would say one of the catchers and a couple of the middle relief guys would be most likely.
I'd stick Cameron in CF for a year, but I don't see the Brewers cutting him loose.
@Nate--I agree. The Brewers would be foolish not to pick up that option unless they have some secret weapon in the minors ready to take over every day that I'm not aware of.
He would have been a better signing a year ago, actually. Certainly within Jim's 'FA budget,' and he would have been an upgrade-better than higher priced options like Rowand and Jones, certainly a better use of money than Lo Duca + Estrada + Mackowiak + Boone.
I'm not sure Emil Brown has ever been a Red, but I could be wrong.
I never would have expected it, but Ryan Dempster was absolutely fantastic this year transitioning back into a SP. (7th best VORP in the majors this year!) Also, I don't think he's one of Bowden's guys; he was atrocious with the Reds, posting ERAs of 6.19 and 6.54.
I doubt he'll be able to sustain stats anywhere close to what he's posted this year much less rationalize the ridiculous contract he'll inevitably get (Silva got $48mil with significantly worse stats...), but I'll be interested to see how he does next year.
Ryan Dempster--July 11, 2002: traded by the Florida Marlins to the Cincinnati Reds for Juan Encarnacion, Wilton Guerrero, and Ryan Snare.
Emil Brown was signed as a FA in 2003 but spent the year at Louisville.
Oh, sorry I meant that Bowden probably remember Dempster too fondly, as he was incredibly bad playing under Bowden (the two years of 6.00+ ERA). But then again, what the hell am I talking about? This is Jim Bowden. The same guy who reacquired Wily Mo Pena and Aaron and Bret Boone (just to name a few off the top of my head). So forget I said anything.
And throw a "doesn't" in between "remember" and "fondly".
So much for proof-reading....
Will--no question, Bowden has had a propensity for reaquiring former players of his regardless of whether they played well for him or not. It's always been my theory with guys like Pena that he's trying to prove himself right in the first place by chasing after his mistakes again. It's like the opposite of the old Ron Wolf precept that the only thing worse than making a mistake is living with it after it's clear it was a mistake in the first place.
We all know he covets Dunn. For whatever reason JimBo can't get off of the Dunn/Kearns/WMP outfield idea. How many times do you have to prove it doesn't work? The only difference is that this time around it will be 5x the cost of when he had it in Cincy.
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