Bowden's Moves Razzle & Dazzle

Greensboro, NC -- Since the MLB hired Jim Bowden to run the Nationals following their move to DC in the fall of 2004, Bowden has definitely grown on me. I had a perception of him being a trigger-friendly fantasy baseball player-esque type GM. To the contrary, he has "developed" into the GM that I like: build around the draft, make shrewd trades, and use free agency only as a stopgap.

Recapping some of Bowden's Trades:

• J. Rivera for Guillen
• T. Kim for J. Spivey
• Day for P. Wilson
• Wilkerson for Soriano
• Majewski, Bray, Clayton for Kearns, Lopez, Wagner
• A bag of balls for Pena
• Schneider, Church for Milledge
• (Prospect) Gibson for Dukes

Stopgap Free Agent Signings:

• D. Young -- obtained for pennies on the dollar
• N. Logan
• R. King

When he tries to sign a player to a long-term deal, that's when Bowden runs into problems:

• C. Guzman
• V. Castilla
• N. Johnson (for injury reasons)
• Schneider (now traded)

Bowden absolutely fleeced the Mets for Milledge. I remember last year that Minaya wouldn't trade Milledge for Zito during the trading deadline. Maybe the Mets would have a '06 banner in Shea had the deal been made.

Here's "Capitol Punishment's" Chris Needham's take on the acquisition of Elijah Dukes:

"In a pure talent sense, it's a solid swap.
I'm not especially high on Gibson's long-term potential, thinking that he's
putting up stats with excellent command of mediocre stuff.
But the stathead side of me is superseded by the fanboy side. Any player whose Wikipedia
profile needs a separate off-field issues section is one you've gotta be careful of. And
it's a player I'm going to take no joy in rooting for."

And Rob Neyer adds this:

"I guess I'm an idiot, because the trade for Dukes seems to me right in
line with the signing of Dmitri Young and the acquisition of Lastings Milledge.
Yes, Dukes is in a class of his own. I understand that. But all three players
came with particular sorts of baggage; not coincidentally, all three suffered
dramatic drops in perceived value within a short period of time."

Also, it doesn't hurt that I got to meet Bowden last summer (June 2006) in Boston and he posed for a quick photo:

What the Dukes trade a wise decision?