The End of the Bowden era--in Cincinnati

Posted by Jeff Bergin on Aug. 11, 2008 at 8:22 PM
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Today's trade of Adam Dunn marked the end of Jim Bowden's sphere of influence in Cincinatti, thus throwing into great question the true impact of the "Boy Genius" on baseball's landscape. Bowden's era in Cinci from 1992-2003 was most notably marked by his acquisition of Ken Griffey, whose trade last week to the White Sox was a grave reminder of an unfortunate turn of events in Cincinnati.

in those 11 years in Cincinnati, a team that went to the World Series in 1990, and had a dominant core of players, Bowden compiled a career record of 942-937, including 3 stratight losing seasons from 2001-2003. While Bowden inherited a solid team in the early 90's, it is his moves in the early 2000's that follow him throughout his days in Washington.

Bowden's tenure in Cincinnati has followed him to Washington, with such Red players as Austin Kearns, Wily Mo Pena, Felipe Lopez, Dmitri Young, Ryan Wagner, D'Angelo Jimenez, Bret Boone, Aaron Boone to name a few have all been brought in to play, at times, pivotal roles on this team; not to mention the advisors/coaches from the Reds organization such as Jose Rijo, Bob Boone and Barry Larkin who have tutored this team on "winning".

It always appeared that Bowden tried to bring his players with him, as if to prove to everyone that he knew what he was doing those days in Cincy...well, of those phenoms he picked up with the Reds, most have played themselves out of favor with the Nationals. The Reds seemed as if they were slowly crawling out from the Bowden blueprint, but finally escaped the all-pop, no-win offense that has plagued the Reds, now the Nationals under "Trader Jim's" tenure.

Let us hope as Nationals fans that Bowden does not go after Dunn and his lifetime .249 batting average this offseason, but if history is any lesson, Bowden will be getting Dunn, and a couple of his other 'prized picks' from those early days with the Reds. If they flash power and a lot of K's, then Bowden will think you walk on water.

[Sigh].