Boswell

We are unabashed fans of Tom Boswell, and his column today catches perfectly the emotion surrounding yesterday's final game of the season.

But we really have to take issue with a couple of points in the column. First, Boswell says:

... in retrospect, not a single personnel move seems to have sacrificed the future.

There's a reason for that. As we said before, virtually all of the moves Jim Bowden made were tinkering at the margins, especially the moves he made after the season started. Whether or not you blame Bowden for not doing more to improve the team, his failure to make more significant moves can't be a justification for praising him.

Second, Boswell says:

If any new owner removes Robinson and Bowden, the Nationals risk losing this culture of commitment.

We don't think there's any basis for asserting that the Nationals will fall apart without Robinson and Bowden. This team and this organization is stronger than that, and the Nationals shouldn't be timid in trying to find better talent to manage this organization going forward.