Jim Bowden, the current Nats and former Reds GM, has struck me for quite some time as a big idiot working in MLB. It seems like he’s a kid with a bunch of baseball cards, willing to trade them when he gets bored or when someone comes knocking on his door. Bowden’s track record precedes him — he’s done wonderful things with the Nats since their inception, no? Anyway, the DUI maven himself is reportedly being investigated by the FBI along with his assistant, Jose Rijo, for skimming signing money from Dominican players. The investigation began after a few White Sox employees were busted for skimming bonus money from Dominican players.
MLB sources said FBI and baseball investigators have been speaking to numerous officials, however they said Bowden and Rijo were among those specifically under investigation for their suspected involvement.
One source, an MLB official speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the investigation was “in its infancy” and involved allegations about several teams and their employees. It was unclear whether Bowden and Rijo are suspected of receiving money or whether they are believed to have played some other role in the scheme.
Let’s see, DUIs, dumb trades, deceitful trades, fights with girlfriends … hmm, why does money skimmer not seem too improbable? Can’t wait to see what develops from this situation. Man, between the Bowden/Rijo money skimming deal and an Orioles scout being fired for ties to a betting ring, we sure are entering some promising territory. Bowden of course has denied any wrongdoing, but what would you expect him to do? Maybe he just paid the reporters some hush money with his scraps from the Dominican signing bonuses. Class act.
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
LB,
i don’t know how Bowden still has a job in baseball. He is one of the worst general managers in baseball. When he could of traded Soriano and gotten something back like the Indians got back for Sabathia could of propelled that team to something decent right now, but what does he do? Sign Dmitri Young, who was the back up first baseman at the beginning of the season to a TWO YEAR deal.
They don’t go out and get anyone in free agency that means anything, it seems like every guy on that team plays more than one position, they have the problem children of Milledge and Dukes (who once again, Church and Schneider are doing really good for the Mets), and a whole bunch of other messes going on.
When they got their new park, they should of fired Bowden and really came in that park fresh.
I’m not a Nats fan, but unless its the Yankees, I never want to see a team be horrible forever. Like to see them get up there in the standings in the years to come, but it won’t happen with Bowden in charge.
Putting him in charge of a new team was the kiss of death. And the fact that he kept Soriano instead of dealing him only to see the Cubs sign him in the offseason just shows how out of touch he is with the market. They’re not going to be a competitive team until they get competent management.
Jim Bowden did make three nice little moves recently, although the yield hasn’t come yet: Dukes, Milledge and Willy Mo (who sucks for some reason).
Bowden on the segue is the greatest thing of all time ever. They need to induct that segue into the hall of fame.
I’m still waiting to see the payoff on those moves. I think we’ll be waiting a long time.