Jim Bowden retained

I got the idea Davey was pretty content in retirement, but who knows? Maybe he'd like to come back to Washington and put the screws to Angelos.

I can't believe Bowden got retained. Dude's got more lives than a cat.

 

Personally I hope it's Dusty Baker.

 

But that Cristian Guzman signing sure was a good one ...

 

Are you sure it's not "detained?"

 

Sorry, Moddy, but if this means they're choosing Bowden over Robby, they have indeed chosen unwisely.

Bowden was the golden boy in Cincinnati in the first few years of his tenure, but the honeymoon was over when people started to realize that more of his so-called brilliant moves went bust than didn't. It sounds like he's been in DC long enough for the honeymoon period to end there, too.

Bowden hired Bobby Valentine and Bob Boone as "consultants" to lurk in the tall grass when Jack McKeon was the manager (seems like Davey Johnson might have been one, too), and everyone assumed they were his boys and potential skippers-in-waiting. Sure enough, after the Reds lost a wild-card playoff in '99 then "slipped" to 85-77 in 2000, McKeon was shitcanned and Boone was hired. Couple that with a do-nothing owner, and the Reds haven't seen a pennant race since. (Until perhaps now.)

Add to this the fact that he never met a microphone he didn't like (he even had a weekly radio show, which as far as I know no Cincy GM has had before or since) and that he absolutely fixated on certain players (Deion Sanders, rag-arm Jimmy Haynes and legendary clubhouse cancer Jose Guillen come to mind). I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but Robby deserves far better after paddling this rudderless ship as long as he has. And Bowden deserves an Oscar for pulling the wool over Kasten's eyes.

As a lifelong Reds fan, I wish Bowden a speedy trip to the unemployment and offer you my condolences and a hearty "hang with 'em."