Response to the one person who still reads this weblog

Steady B said...
"Fletcher,I really do not want to defend Bowden because he often comes across as arogant. However, You can not deny that he was able to pick the Reds' pockets in broad day light. A stupid man would not have been able to pull that trade off. I really think that the front office pressured him in to keeping Soriano because he is a fan favorite and has the star power to become the face of the franchise, a franchise that is trying to gain a foothold on its fan base. "

First, I agree he got good value in that Reds trade. However, while getting an extra $500 on the sale of a pinto is somewhat impressive (though Krivesky seemed to have a few other poor reliever trades), when you turn around and hold onto the lease of Lexus that could have brought you back ownership on a Porsche the two don't really offset each other.

If I may change metaphors, it seems like Bowden went to see Waterworld, which obviously sucked, then said, "But it was worth it, because there was a good preview before the movie started, and even though I didn't enjoy the movie I had good company and it was a fun family outing and we are all happy with each other." Then, if he does sign Soriano to a contract similar to the one I proposed, he basically will be saying, "Because I liked that preview so much, I'm going to not only purchase the 4-disc collector's edition DVD, I'm also willing to pay triple the price to see Waterworld 2: Electric (eel) Bugaloo".

Especially from reading Buster Olney and Jason Stark, it really seems that it was just Bowden being greedy that didn't get the deal done. Kasten wants to build through the draft, have a solid farm team, and not get covered with tough contracts. Sure, Soriano is about as popular as any other player on the team, but so was Brad Wilkerson before him, and honestly attendence has been pretty sporadic anyhow. I doubt 2 draft picks and a cloud of dust really makes them happy. They wanted some help for Ryan and Nick in the next year or two that was cheap, rather than having to shell out big money for Soriano to play on a bunch of non-competitive teams. At least that is the view the Washington Post seems to be portraying.

Eh, I'm sticking with my assumption that Bowden is an arrogant ass who just assumes he can fleece every other GM just because, whereas in truth he only gets better value on small deals. Again, just because he made a killing at a yard sale doesn't mean he would be a good investment banker, if you get my drift.

Man, too many metaphors to describe how dumb Bowden is. I need coffee.