Down Off the Farm

Maybe we won't have to wait for other teams to cherry-pick our staff. Nats GM (as of 4 pm EST) Jim Bowden gave walking papers to Director of Player Development Adam Wogan. Wogan, nominally the #3 baseball operations man behind J.B. and assistant GM Tony Siegle had been with the franchise since 2002. Maybe Omar Minaya will hire him and leave Scouting Director Dana Brown alone.

Wogan was in charge of the Nats farm system, the worst in baseball this year. Also on his watch (though really the responsibility of then-GM Minaya) the Expos traded away pitchers Cliff Lee and Chris Young, and outfielders Jason Bay and Grady Sizemore. Hmmm... two young starting pitchers, a power-hitting LF and a speedy leadoff CF... sound like anything the Nats could use? Wogan's replacement won't be named until, of course, the Nats have an owner.

This suggests to me that Bowden's first choice is to hang around in DC. After all, it seems like bad form to fire someone two weeks before your contract expires then skip town. If nothing else, this should reassure those in the Nats blogosphere who have lately discovered a "Big Yellow Taxi" type affection for J.B.

Late last night I heard the screen door slam,
And a big yellow taxi took away my old GM.
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't like Bodes til he's all but gone.
They paved Southeast and put up a big ballpark.