Nats’ Shopping List Gets a Little Shorter – The Post
Nats move in new direction – The Post
Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen were introduced to Washington yesterday at an afternoon press conference attended by Jim Bowden, but not Manny Acta or Stan Kasten (who is rumored to be talking the Blue Jays). While the trade makes seems to make sense, I just can’t get over the feeling that it is counterproductive. It seems to me that The Plan, as championed by Kasten, is being remade by Bowden. While I have my disagreements with some of the things Kasten does, I support his theory of teambuilding and find it and him credible on this issue. Bowden on the other hand, has a record of one playoff appearance in 15 years as GM, none with the Nationals. I can’t help but think that Bowden is a small picture guy who thinks that making little moves like this are what his job is all about when in reality, it is winning championships not making the team mediocre. The team owners, the Lerner Family, seem to be solidly in the Bowden camp which is to their discredit.

FireJimBowden has a great post about this trade that details a lot of what I am thinking.

Also, did you note the contrasting tones of the two articles linked above? The Wash. Times story was written by their long-time beat writer Mark Zuckerman, while The Post sent the Angelo$-franchise beat writer. Pretty easy to see which story was better.