Around 2 weeks ago, BP's own Christina Kahrl gave me the thumbs up on using an idea of hers(sorta, it was her facebook status) and making a "WWBD?" post. Why make a "What would Bowden do?" post, well mainly because it's easy and it would be a funny post.
Jim Bowden is one of those types of GMs that owners like, but the ones fans love to hate. Fans probably loathe him more than Pat Gillick, Chuck LaMar or Bill Bavasi.However, like those guys, he always manages to find a job and get free-reign of baseball teams(whether fans like it or not).
Knowing he has a job, guarantees that one team's beat writer will have his share of headaches and laughs.
Jim Bowden, the segway-driving, leather pant-wearing GM resigned today from running the Washington Nationals and somewhere Wily Mo Pena sheds a tear. He was on the receiving end of a lot of rumors and turmoil dealing with Latin American prospects. A week after one of his prospects wasn't who he claimed to be and how old he was supposed to be, Bowden decided that it was easier to wave the white flag than risk his career/freedom by continuing in Washington. Freedom, mainly due to Federal inquiries from claims that Bowden and a few select high-ranking officials were part of a widespread bonus-skimming controversy. Not sure if the Carlos Lugo "whoops" was the last straw, but the dominos were falling when Jose Rijo(one of Bowden's special advisors, who also was embroiled in the skimming controversy) took a leave of absence from the team. Rumors started to follow that Bowden was the next to get the axe and Bowden beat the team to it.
When I say Wily Mo Pena shed a tear when Bowden resigned, it's probably not very factual. While its possible that a player is brought to tears by a GM's departure, Wily Mo and Jim Bowden are like the "Bert & Ernie" of baseball. Wily Mo must have an envelope with pictures involving Bowden and farm animals, seeing as no matter where Bowden went...soon Pena was to follow. Cincinnatti the relationship began and Washington was where the "spark" was rekindled. The obsession with his former Cincinatti power-hitting outfielders grew when Bowden acquired oft-injured Austin Kearns and batting average/defensively-challenged Adam Dunn. Christian Guzman, Livan Hernandez and Odalis Perez are all bad contracts that Bowden can be blamed for, as well, and Guzman is the only remaining on the team right now. Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson were both acquired on Bowden's watch too, but they at least have redeeming qualities and possible value.
Luckily for Bowden's sake, Mike Rizzo was put in charge of the Nationals' farm-system and positive personnel moves were made. Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge both came with baggage, due to their preceding teams selling low rather than dealing with them anymore. Jesus Flores was a Rule 5 Draft steal, which some Mets fans still cringe at. Ross Detweiler, Jordan Zimmerman and Aaron Crow(though he didn't sign) are among the talents that Rizzo has directed the Nats to draft. Rizzo has righted the ship of a formerly-poorly ran franchise and is one of two known candidates(the other being Tony Lacava(sp?) of the Toronto Bluejays) likely to takeover the GMing duties.
March 1st was indeed the day that the Nats stood still, figured out they've been standing in a puddle for a couple of years and finally took a step forward.
Showing posts with label Adam Dunn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adam Dunn. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Does Money Really Bring Happiness?
It could be the Ray fan inside of me talking, or living in a city that knows about long droughts of championship-less streaks(Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox Pre-2005) but the free-spending ways of the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs have become more and more comical as years pass. One wonders, Does throwing money at the highest priced free agents really solve the problems that plague teams that are supposed to be winning real championships rather than the "paper championships" that the pundits and national media throw upon them?
Look at the Yankees, they've won 26 championships in their storied history. There is no mistake that the Yankees are the greatest organization in baseball, when it comes to winning the World Series. However, since 2000, they've won none and seen 2 of their own division rivals win a championship or win an AL Pennant. What makes it worse was that the long-time punching-bag known as the Tampa Bay Rays lost the season series against the Yankees in 2008, but beat out the rival Red Sox for the Division and shut the Yankees out of the playoffs for the first time in Derek Jeter's career. They've got the best players that money can buy, but what do the Rays and Red Sox know that the Yankees don't? I've got a theory, but I'll get to that soon enough.
The Cubs, oh the Cubbies, seem to be the Anti-Yankees in the terms of Championships. They've been World Series Title-less in over 100-years, however there's no doubt how well-known and historically significant that they're known worldwide. Everyone who knows baseball knows about "The Billygoat Curse" or "Bartman". However, they've also become a free-spending team, as of late, and they too have nothing to show for it. The closest they've been to the World Series in this millenia was in the 2003 season when the legendary "Bartman" incident took place and eventually sent the Firesale-friendly Florida Marlins to their eventual World Series championship over the New York Yankees. The money has been spent, the "right" manager has been hired and still nothing. Lou Piniella has as many playoff wins for the Cubs that he did when he managed the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
What gives?
Here's my theories why teams that, on paper, should lay waste to their competition...don't and continue to give their fans headaches and/or ulcers.
"Chemistry"
While it can be argued that a team's chemistry has no effect on it's Win-Loss record, I believe a team's positive chemistry can overcome hundreds of millions of dollars and create "cinderella" stories. When everybody on a team ignores individual performance for the "greater good", this team is more likely to outperform the team whose lined with the best players who put up the best stats and make the most money.
Why? The players who are getting paid the most money from being the best players (because they put up the best stats) also put a lot of undue pressure on themselves to consistently match and surpass their bests on a yearly basis. They do things that they don't normally do and shy away from doing what they did to get them to that "big money" contract. Perfect examples of this is Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu and Alfonso Soriano.
When a team of individuals put the concept of disregarding what current logic says is the best for them as an individual and instead strive to be the best 9 players on a field at once, magic happens.
Its not known if there's discourse and jealousy in the current Cubs and Yankees clubhouses(Torre says there WAS when he was managing the Yankees), but I've got a feeling that there was more then the normal in those 2 than in the other 7 playoff teams' clubhouses.
"Buy needs, not names"
The Yankees in the last decade decided that if they outspent the competition on the top free agents, they'd be locks to be the champs. Instead of fixing glaring holes and needs, they bought names and started the downward spiral that eventually led to the ending of their playoff streak to 2 of their own and hated *gulp* rivals. No big surprise in this offseason, they continued their spending and spent a half-billion dollars on names and not exaclty their "needs". Mark Teixiera will be the Yankees best free agent signing for the last 20+ years just because he was a "need" that they filled, rather than a "name"(though, this can be argued also)
In the same breath, the Cubs have locked themselves in contracts and name players that don't exactly fit "needs." Milton Bradley is the lastest example of this. Lou Piniella has longed for a lefty to break up a righty-heavy line-up since his hiring, so the signing of switch-hitting Milton Bradley can be seen as the team fulfulling a need. However, does the signing of Milton truely make any sense? He isn't truely a lefty and his past(both in injuries and his temper) didn't make him the best player to fulfill this "need". Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn probably would've been better fits, due to their healthy pasts and handedness. Time will tell if Milton surpasses his career high of 120 games played and make Hendry proud when he holds a NCLS or World Series trophy over his head.
So, does money really bring you happiness or was Notorious B.I.G. right when he said "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems"? For those 2 teams, it was the latter.
Look at the Yankees, they've won 26 championships in their storied history. There is no mistake that the Yankees are the greatest organization in baseball, when it comes to winning the World Series. However, since 2000, they've won none and seen 2 of their own division rivals win a championship or win an AL Pennant. What makes it worse was that the long-time punching-bag known as the Tampa Bay Rays lost the season series against the Yankees in 2008, but beat out the rival Red Sox for the Division and shut the Yankees out of the playoffs for the first time in Derek Jeter's career. They've got the best players that money can buy, but what do the Rays and Red Sox know that the Yankees don't? I've got a theory, but I'll get to that soon enough.
The Cubs, oh the Cubbies, seem to be the Anti-Yankees in the terms of Championships. They've been World Series Title-less in over 100-years, however there's no doubt how well-known and historically significant that they're known worldwide. Everyone who knows baseball knows about "The Billygoat Curse" or "Bartman". However, they've also become a free-spending team, as of late, and they too have nothing to show for it. The closest they've been to the World Series in this millenia was in the 2003 season when the legendary "Bartman" incident took place and eventually sent the Firesale-friendly Florida Marlins to their eventual World Series championship over the New York Yankees. The money has been spent, the "right" manager has been hired and still nothing. Lou Piniella has as many playoff wins for the Cubs that he did when he managed the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
What gives?
Here's my theories why teams that, on paper, should lay waste to their competition...don't and continue to give their fans headaches and/or ulcers.
"Chemistry"
While it can be argued that a team's chemistry has no effect on it's Win-Loss record, I believe a team's positive chemistry can overcome hundreds of millions of dollars and create "cinderella" stories. When everybody on a team ignores individual performance for the "greater good", this team is more likely to outperform the team whose lined with the best players who put up the best stats and make the most money.
Why? The players who are getting paid the most money from being the best players (because they put up the best stats) also put a lot of undue pressure on themselves to consistently match and surpass their bests on a yearly basis. They do things that they don't normally do and shy away from doing what they did to get them to that "big money" contract. Perfect examples of this is Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu and Alfonso Soriano.
When a team of individuals put the concept of disregarding what current logic says is the best for them as an individual and instead strive to be the best 9 players on a field at once, magic happens.
Its not known if there's discourse and jealousy in the current Cubs and Yankees clubhouses(Torre says there WAS when he was managing the Yankees), but I've got a feeling that there was more then the normal in those 2 than in the other 7 playoff teams' clubhouses.
"Buy needs, not names"
The Yankees in the last decade decided that if they outspent the competition on the top free agents, they'd be locks to be the champs. Instead of fixing glaring holes and needs, they bought names and started the downward spiral that eventually led to the ending of their playoff streak to 2 of their own and hated *gulp* rivals. No big surprise in this offseason, they continued their spending and spent a half-billion dollars on names and not exaclty their "needs". Mark Teixiera will be the Yankees best free agent signing for the last 20+ years just because he was a "need" that they filled, rather than a "name"(though, this can be argued also)
In the same breath, the Cubs have locked themselves in contracts and name players that don't exactly fit "needs." Milton Bradley is the lastest example of this. Lou Piniella has longed for a lefty to break up a righty-heavy line-up since his hiring, so the signing of switch-hitting Milton Bradley can be seen as the team fulfulling a need. However, does the signing of Milton truely make any sense? He isn't truely a lefty and his past(both in injuries and his temper) didn't make him the best player to fulfill this "need". Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn probably would've been better fits, due to their healthy pasts and handedness. Time will tell if Milton surpasses his career high of 120 games played and make Hendry proud when he holds a NCLS or World Series trophy over his head.
So, does money really bring you happiness or was Notorious B.I.G. right when he said "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems"? For those 2 teams, it was the latter.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Bang For Your Buck
This offseason's top free agent hitters had 1 complete hitter(Mark Teixiera) and the vast assortment of veteran hitters whose main money-maker is their bat and what they do at the plate. Manny aside, it took until January and February for said player-types to get signed and every single one of them signed for far below their perceived "market" values. Combined, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn and Milton Bradley make as much money as A-Rod's 2009. I realize that Raul Ibanez and Jason Giambi are both veteran bat-only players, but they're in the twilight of his career (ala Manny) and GMs or writers use intangibles as reasons why players get paid what they do.
What is interesting is that 3 out of 4 of the aforementioned undermarket hitters signed for playoff level teams who had glaring needs that these players filled. Yet these teams got bonus value with the fact that every single one of these hitters is a noted on-base threat and has obvious power?
So with the undermarket costs, why did only 1 non-2008 playoff team determine to disregard the ecomonic turmoil and pay what was needed to sign a guaranteed on-base and power threat? Every AL team could've plugged a Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu as they're DHs and negated their perceived defensive inefficiencies.
Was it Milton's tumoltuous past and injury-plagued career, was it Dunn's glove or his questioned "love of the game", Burrell's slow-footedness and 2-month slumps or was it Abreu's sudden diminishing power?
Who knows, but when baseball makes as much as it does...
Does it really matter??
What is interesting is that 3 out of 4 of the aforementioned undermarket hitters signed for playoff level teams who had glaring needs that these players filled. Yet these teams got bonus value with the fact that every single one of these hitters is a noted on-base threat and has obvious power?
So with the undermarket costs, why did only 1 non-2008 playoff team determine to disregard the ecomonic turmoil and pay what was needed to sign a guaranteed on-base and power threat? Every AL team could've plugged a Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu as they're DHs and negated their perceived defensive inefficiencies.
Was it Milton's tumoltuous past and injury-plagued career, was it Dunn's glove or his questioned "love of the game", Burrell's slow-footedness and 2-month slumps or was it Abreu's sudden diminishing power?
Who knows, but when baseball makes as much as it does...
Does it really matter??
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