Friday, October 21, 2005
Call us crazy, but...
The Reds allegedly are still interested in trading Adam Dunn. Maybe we're dense, but shouldn't the Nationals be interested in acquiring a left fielder with 40 homers and a .927 OPS? Apparently not, because the Sporting News doesn't list the Nats as a team with which the Reds are talking.
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7 comments:
Welcome back!
Dunn to the Reds won't happen for the same reason no deal will ever happen with the Nats (for the time being): their front office/ownership hate Jim Bowden and won't work with him.
It's good to be back! Although we have no personal knowledge of this, we understand that the Reds' current management won't deal with Jim Bowden. Assuming that that's true and given the fact that the Nats need a big bat like Dunn, isn't that a compelling reason to fire Bowden?
Even if Dan O'Brien and company liked Bowden, I'm not sure we want Dunn on the Nats. If you thought Preston Wilson and Brad Wilkerson struck out a lot, you haven't seen Adam Dunn. Dude routinely bats .240-50 and strikes out like a fiend. Of course, he also hits 40+ homers...but we can do better. A team can stomach one strikeout king but not two or three.
And, um, that's the WORST reason to fire Bowden I've ever heard of. You guys (bloggers) talk of firing Bowden every day but who will we get if he leaves given the current ownership situation? We'll get the GM equivalent of Cristian Guzman.
Fair point re Dunn and Wilkerson, although we would be more aggressive that some others in rebuilding the outfield, meaning that we can envision an outfield with Guillen in right and new players in left and center. We don't view this as a one-year rebuilding effort, so it may take a few years to get a productive outfield. We have some doubt that this productive outfield will include Wilkerson, meaning that we'd get Dunn if we could right now. There were only 17 players in the National League last year with a 900+ OPS, and Dunn was one of them. The Nationals didn't have anyone falling into that category, which is one of the reasons our offense was so anemic.
We do advocate firing Jim Bowden, and we're unapologetic in doing so. The new owners will likely fire him anyway because they'll want their own man in the job. And there are a number of good alternatives to Bowden, including Brian Cashman, Josh Byrnes (Asst. GM in Boston), Theo Epstein (if the Red Sox are stupid enough not to resign him for a lot of money), and a whole bunch of young Asst. GMs in places like Oakland, Atlanta, etc.
Here is our point: the Nationals have the chance to be one of the league's premier franchises. We're in a strong media market, we have a big fan base, and it's a great city. So the team should be filling its executive ranks with the best talent available. Jim Bowden doesn't fit the bill.
I agree that firing JB makes sense if there's a better alternative out there. My worry now is that he leaves before a new owner gets settled, leaving the team way up a creek. The Nationals will have a hard time attracting all but the most desperate candidates for their "interim" GM job.
And I agree with you: the Nationals have a great chance to become a premier franchise and should start making moves with that attitude in mind.
There are many compelling reasons to fire Bowden. The respect factor is a big one. It's not just the Reds who hate him. (Excuse the blog-pimp!)
Brandon, I can see your point. Who else is a big question in the short-term. But as long as there aren't new owners, there isn't going to be an increase in the budget. We're not going to be getting any big free agents anyway. We'd need more of a care-taker. Tony Siegle, or anyone in the front office could probably fill in for the time being without a significant dropoff.
Bowden has his uses. He's far from the worst GM on earth. But he's far from the best as well.
Adam Dunn teaches a valuable lesson -- that you can't just focus on one thing that a player does poorly (or even one that he does well). Despite the Ks, Dunn is a valuable player because he hits for exceptional power, and because he walks a lot. He's essentially the OF version of Jim Thome.
Preston Wilson doesn't really excel in any one thing. He doesn't hit for enough power or draw enough walks to ignore his Ks.
Brad Wilkerson, at least this season, was in the same boat. But when he's healthy (he battled a lot of injuries this year), he's drawing as many walks as Thome/Dunn, and hitting for a lot of power. Those offset the Ks.
Major League Baseball could circumvent the timing problem by JUST MAKING A DECISION ABOUT THE OWNER!!!!! The longer they wait at this point the more they will disadvantage the Nationals in the off-season.
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