Bowden's Resignation

I've long thought of Jim Bowden as a below average GM with above average entertainment value. His statement about his resignation does nothing to alter that assessment. Bowden sets himself up to take credit for his successor's success and sells himself as a steward of the game who's stepping down for all the right reasons. And heck, he may very well be. (Or he might be in A-Rod with Katie Couric mode.) Bowden is an unimpressive GM who has done many impressive things as a GM, and his final statement impresses in many moments at the same time that I am, on the whole, unimpressed.

For personal reasons, my mental image of Bowden comes from seeing him as ESPNews' studio analyst in July 2004, saying that Milton Bradley better accept a move to RF because Steve Finley is a better center fielder. I turn to baseball again and again because of its rich ironies, and on that level Bowden rarely failed to deliver; thank goodness there's a former ESPNews talking head who will say this:

I will also carry with me the cold hard realization that my life has been turned upside down by a news media that prints entire stories attributed solely to anonymous sources who refuse to be identified and who are free to allege anything they choose for any purpose without fear of retribution.