Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Is it Possible that the Team is Divided?

Perrotto reported:
Commissioner Bud Selig reportedly has given Nationals president Stan Kasten permission to hire LaCava without interviewing minority candidates because of the special circumstances of a change of GMs being necessitated after spring training has started.
It seems clear that BP's source is in the league office, but that the team won't confirm. One of two things are happening in my mind:
1. Stan is letting Jim twist in the wind, cackling like Mr. Burns
2. the Lerners still aren't on board

One thing I know is that Jim Bowden getting fired is great for my web traffic. I'm working on three days in a row over 1000 hits. How many grassroots team blogs get that kind of traffic in Spring Training?

6 comments:

Nate said...

You'd think that if the management wasn't divided, something would have been done by now, one way or the other.

I'm not at all encouraged by the way the Bowden situation has been handled. Nothing that has happened to date gives me any sense that the Nats management is aware of the size of their problem and capable of presenting a unified front in addressing it.

Whatever happens from here on out, that does not bode well (pun intended) for the future of the organization. Welcome to the firing line, Mr. LaCava.

Will said...

Doesn't the fact that Mark and Ted have been totally and completely absent from all of the proceedings serve the same purpose as Kasten's selling out of Jim?

A simple statement from the Lerners reiterating their support of Bowden would have been a real boost to Bowden, but far from a statement of full support.

Public relations clearly must not be as highly valued in the real estate business as it is on other sectors, because the Lerners have been terrible at it.

An Briosca Mor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Craig said...

a team divided cannot stand.

Fire Jim Bowden!

An Briosca Mor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Will said...

I don't know why nobody listens to what Kasten repeatedly says.

ABM, you answered your own question.

Now, there is one thing I did have wrong there. Rijo has since been quoted saying that he was in fact told to take a leave of absence, a change from what he had said earlier.

It was Stan Kasten who announced that Rijo had come to them to ask them for a leave of absence, which Rijo later said to be wrong. Why would Rijo lie about something like that? He's already been fired, so why would he say that he never asked for a leave of absence? It wouldn't make sense for him to dwell on a now irrelevant fact.
Therefore, you have to assume Kasten made up the part about Rijo wanting to leave, which is just another example of why Nationals fans don't take Kasten's words at face value; he's simply not entirely honest with the fans about what's going on.

On top of that, I don't think it would be "unfair" to fire Bowden regardless of whether he's implicated in the Smiley/skimming scandal. The fact that he brings so much bad press to the team, and does not produce any results to back up the negative attention is proper cause to fire the guy. If not solely based on the fact he managed a 102 loss team last year.