Monday, February 23, 2009

Deep Throat Says, "Just... Follow... Oquendo?"

"Follow the money" was a better catch-phrase, but according to SI.com Jorge Oquendo's links to Jim Bowden's Reds have prompted them to expand their investigation.

According to SI, Jim is now being investigated as far back as 1994 at least in part because Oquendo, who was fired as a White Sox scout after their bonus-skimming scandal came to light, was a Reds scout then. There aren't any hard facts in the story to incriminate anyone, but it's another indication that Jim is personally being looked at.

4 comments:

Mike said...

"There weren't any hard facts in the story to incriminate anyone . . ."

Thank you for that. If Bowden is to suffer consequences, let it be on the basis of evidence, not innuendo.

Steven said...

Yeah, I've tried to be fair, and will continue to do so, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the guy has done a miserable job in umpteen ways and in this case it's an embarrassment and a distraction and the smoke, if not fire, is enough to be the last straw.

The bottom line is how effective he will be at his job going forward, and perception matters. It might not be fair, but if we're going to have success in the DR, for instance, I think it's fair to say that we'd be better off clearing house to clear the perception, even if Jim is totally innocent.

That might not be fair, but it's probably good business, and business ain't always fair.

Brian said...

Steven - This team has been spinning its wheels since all of this DR news broke last year. Their presence in the DR is a key aspect of any rebuilding efforts. I'm just not sure they can regain any credibility there with this stuff lingering. I'm not sure it's possible to move on with Bowden in control periosd. But I know there is no way to accomplish anything with gag orders and lack of public support.

It's time for the Lerners and Kasten to either (1) come out and openly support him or (2) fire him.

Unknown said...

Brian

I think it has to be 2) Fire Him!

The Bowden circus has seriously derailed us at this point for a number of spring trainings. Be it's drink driving, signing guys who refuse to play their positions, DR scouting (twice).

At some point his antics have to cost him his job, and while this by itself may not be enough to get a man fired it comes in conjunction with a number of other offenses. We will not move forward with our farm system until we have stable, well funded productive presence in the DR. We may never get that under Jim.