Fire Jim Bowden

The first order of business for the Nationals' new management should be to fire Jim Bowden.

The trade deadline passed yesterday without the Nationals making a single deal, meaning that they have done nothing to improve their team as they moved away from the overachieving and unsustainable first half into the harsh reality of a team allowing as many runs as it scores. Rather than make a significant deal, Bowden has berated the players for not doing the impossible task of staying 18 games above .500 when they have one of the worst hitting teams in the major leagues. That criticism is horribly unfair because the pitching staff has performed brilliantly, and the hitters are doing pretty much what we could reasonably expect of them. The sad fact is that the Nationals don't have enough good hitters. The only way to improve the team is through trades, and the only person capable of making those trades is Jim Bowden. As much as he would like to blame others, the task of improving the team falls squarely on his shoulders.

As we've said before, there was a lot at stake as this trade deadline approached. The Nationals had the opportunity to do something no other team has ever done: transform themselves from a basement franchise into one of the league's premier teams in a single year. We're no longer in Montreal, Dorothy, and the Nationals now have tens of millions of dollars to spend on new players. To do that effectively, the Nationals have to be both aggressive and creative. They have to spend their money on consistently productive players either by outbidding other teams or by finding undervalued players.

This trade deadline was Jim Bowden's first opportunity to show that he could lead the Nationals into their new reality. He came to this point with a mixed record. He made one very good move in acquiring Jose Guillen, but he made an offsetting very bad move in signing Cristian Guzman to an indefensible four-year, $16.8 million contract. He has made smaller moves that can be characterized as additive, but those are moves that merely tinkered at the team's margins.

Bowden didn't do anything with this latest opportunity to improve the team. There were a number of potential trades that he could have made to acquire significant talent. Yes, we know that teams like Tampa Bay were asking a lot, but there were other teams looking to trade players. Some of these trades would have required Bowden to take a chance, but that's exactly what a GM in his position has to do. For example, Bowden could have acquired Jason Giambi weeks ago when the Yankees were willing to pay much of his salary, but he didn't do that. In the meantime, Giambi had an OPS of 1.409 in July.

We're sure that some Bowden apologists will complain that Bowden knows more about the trade market than we do and that no other team made those trades either. Point taken, but keep in mind that the Nationals are in a BETTER position than a lot of other teams to make trades because few teams have the money to spend that the Nationals do. And what about the trades that other teams did make? Bowden could have improved the outfield by acquiring Matt Lawton from Pittsburgh for not a whole lot, but he didn't do that. He could have shored up the bullpen by acquiring Kyle Farnsworth from the Tigers, but he didn't do that. And he could have improved the bench by acquiring either Phil Nevin or utility man Geoff Blum from the Padres, but he didn't do that either.

We suspect that Bowden believes he has limited options because he doesn't want to commit to transforming moves until future ownership can approve them. If that's true, Bowden should level with the fans and admit he's a caretaker. If it's not true, Bowden has no excuse for failing to improve the team. Either way, Bowden has failed in his primary objective.

We're not saying that the season is over. The Nationals had a horrible July and hit about as badly as they could during that 31-day period, and things can't stay this bad forever. But, let's face it: the Nationals have allowed as many runs as they score all season long and that's a prescription for a .500 team. Unless they can acquire better players the chances of the Nationals making the playoffs are sketchy. It's possible that Bowden will be able to acquire a significant player off of waivers as teams try to move players they couldn't move in trades, but that's like betting against a three-of-a-kind as you hope to draw a straight.

No, Bowden had his chance, and he failed to do his job. For that, he should be fired.