National crisis: Capital franchise in turmoil
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6761858
Ken Rosenthal / FOXSports.com
It was more than a minor news item.
A little-known farm director and three low-level front-office employees left
the Washington Nationals in mid-February. Four-fifths of the team's
player-development department, gone.
The episode not only was notable for its timing — most front-office changes
occur at the end of the season, not the start of spring training — but also
for what it represented:
Frustration among some employees with the business practices of the team's
new ownership.
Exasperation with the volatile leadership of general manager Jim Bowden.
The extensive turnover that continues 2? years after Bowden's arrival and the
team's departure from Montreal, and nearly a year after Ted Lerner and his
ownership group took over the club from Major League Baseball.
When the Nationals move into their new $611 million ballpark in downtown
Washington D.C. next season, they will immediately shift from a low-revenue
to high-revenue franchise — and a potentially dominant one, if they exploit
the advantages of playing in one of the world's leading international cities.
The stakes are higher than they would be for say, a new team in Portland,
Ore. The national pastime twice has failed in the nation's capital; the first
version of the Senators bolted for Minnesota in 1961, the second for Texas in
1972. The D.C./Northern Virginia area is more of an economic dynamo now; it
is the eighth-largest television market in the country. If the Nationals
fail, they will have no excuses.
Yet, the questions surrounding this team — questions raised in interviews
with nearly a dozen former employees and several current employees, as well
as officials from rival clubs — go beyond the Nats' 9-18 start and dim
prospects for the 2007 season. The questions raise concerns about flawed
management impeding progress at the major-league level.
The Nationals have finished last in the NL East in both of their full seasons
under Bowden, declining from 81 wins in 2005 to 71 in '06. Their minor-league
affiliates had the second-worst combined winning percentage in 2005, the
third-worst in '06.
While the Nationals have taken a deliberate step back as they rebuild from
within, they might be years away from developing the type of top-shelf young
talent routinely generated by teams such as the Marlins.
Below the surface, cracks are showing.
Approximately 50 major and minor-league staffers, front-office personnel,
player-development officials and scouts have resigned or been fired since
Bowden took over — including a number whom Bowden promoted or hired.
Meanwhile, slow reimbursements of scouts' travel expenses, a tedious approval
process for expenditures and nitpicking over minor purchases contribute to
poor morale, former employees say.
The two officials who resigned in February — Andy Dunn, farm director, and
Michele Copes, coordinator of scouting and player development — left, in
part, because of the Nationals' stressful working environment, according to
former employees.
The other two officials — Tyler Holmes, assistant to the farm director, and
Matt Blaney, assistant in player development-Florida operations — became
involved in a financial dispute with upper management, and were fired before
they could submit their resignations.
Turnover is expected under a new owner. So is a learning curve. The
challenges the Nationals face are even more acute considering that the
organization was "flat on its back" after four years of MLB control,
according to team president Stan Kasten.
Nationals officials say their latest personnel changes are attributable to
the Lerners' desire to hire better people. They acknowledge growing pains
during the Lerners' transition, but say that most of the issues have been or
will be resolved.
"From our perspective, it's almost completely behind us," Bowden says. "When
anyone gets a new business, they need to learn the business. It takes time to
make sure that everyone is educated on how we operate. If there's a better
way to do things, we're all open-minded."
Yet, even if the operation stabilizes, the relationships between the team's
top executives — principal owner Mark Lerner, Bowden, Kasten and assistant
general managers Mike Rizzo and Bob Boone — will continue to draw scrutiny.
Kasten, to the surprise of even his friends, has retained Bowden. His choice,
however, might be influenced by Lerner, whom Bowden cultivated while the team
was still for sale. Many in baseball, citing differences in personalities and
leadership styles, believe a power struggle is inevitable and doubt whether
the group will stay together long-term.
Nationals officials offer a different view.
The team's top executives, they say, possess complementary talents. Bowden, a
bold, aggressive trader, is considered one of the game's most creative
general managers. Rizzo helped build one of the game's top farm systems as
the Diamondbacks' scouting director. Boone has been a major-league player,
manager and scout. Kasten directed a run of 14 consecutive NL East titles as
the Braves' club president.
Each of those executives says he is energized by the challenge of working in
Washington, citing the commitment of the Lerner group as proof that the
franchise is headed in the right direction.
The Nationals' budget for scouting and player development, Bowden says, ranks
in the top five in the majors. The major-league payroll could double from its
present $37 million next season. The team replenished its scouting department
by hiring 10 scouts last November. It also instituted an accelerated
development program for top prospects before spring training, and plans to
field an fall Instructional League team for the first time since 2000.
While the length of Bowden's contract is not known, the Nationals awarded a
four-year deal to Rizzo and a three-year deal to at least one of its new
hires, special-assignment scout and Pacific Rim coordinator Bill Singer,
according to major-league sources.
The Nationals also intend to make a splash in the June amateur draft, in
which they hold five of the top 71 picks. They spent $5.3 million in last
year's draft, 10th highest in the majors, according to Baseball America, and
also signed a 16-year-old Dominican shortstop, Esmailyn Gonzalez, for $1.4
million.
The money could go to waste if the Nationals prove dysfunctional. But Kasten,
pointing to the opening of the new ballpark and the potential for the
franchise to become a force in both Latin America and the Pacific Rim, can
barely contain his excitement over the franchise's future.
"It's going to be big — capital letters big," he says. "Great big bold neon
big, no question about it."
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