Happy Birthdays and Nationals 'War'

First off, Happy Birthday to BHGM (1 year old tomorrow,) and my Mother (not telling.) I've got a great Mom who supports most of the stuff I do. But she thinks I'm wasting my money on anything baseball related. Oh well. In the next week or so I'm hoping to put up a post that will highlight the last year's worth of blogging here on BHGM, so look for that soon. It should be pretty funny.

Do the Nationals have an owner yet? Well, no. Now, here is where it gets confusing, which is actually normal when you're talking about the Nationals. See, on Wednesday, rumors were circulating that MLB was about to name a new owner. The rumors were apparently started by Jeffrey Smulyan's "people." Smulyan is one of the three groups expected to receive the bid. The other two groups in contention are the family of Theodore Lerner, and a "syndicate" led by Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients. Anyway, on Wednesday, (or was it Tuesday?) Smulyan's people were telling everyone that the Lerner's had just won the bid.

And this is where it gets really, really weird. See, Smulyan's "people" were all over it too; according to one reporter, Smulyan's "people" called him and told him that Ken Griffey Jr. would like to meet with him at RFK Stadium (where the Reds were playing the Nats,) and talk to about Smulyan as an owner, since he owned the Mariners when Griffey played there. Now, forget for a minute that Smulyan's ownership tactics are absolutely irrelevant, and that it really doesn't matter what Ken Griffey Jr. thinks about them anyway. In any case, Griffey never showed, and so the reporter asks one of the club's PR managers where he is. Of course, he replies that Griffey is rehabbing a knee injury back in Cincinnati. So Smulyan's people say that Griffey will call this reporter in the afternoon, but the call never came. Meanwhile, Smulyan himself is denying the reports, as are Selig and Bob Dupuy, MLB President.

But here's where we climb deeper into the rabbit hole. Now, Bud Selig is saying that they are close to selecting an owner. In fact, the owner will be present at Thursday's groundbreaking for the new Stadium that the city is building for the Nationals. Now I realize that you can deny that you've selected an owner, yet say that you're close to doing so without bending any laws of logic. However, isn't it just weird - not stupid, and not crazy - that a day after a story breaks saying they've found a new owner, MLB says they're close to finding an owner after spending the entire previous day denying it? But whatever, that can be justified, even if the reasoning is standing on very shaky ground.

What can't be justified is the $450 million price tag for the team. Yeah. Apparently, eight groups are asking MLB if they'll take $450 million off their hands in exchange for the Washington Nationals. This is what's really crazy. Ever see a house on your block for sale, and you decide you'll check it out at the open house just to see what it's like? You're thinking, 'compared to my house, this thing is probably worth $150,000.' Then you see the owners are asking $300,000. And then the house sells in its third day on the market. You pretty much feel like you're the only sane person left in the world. This is how I feel about the Nationals. Now, don't get me wrong - like any real baseball fan, my dream is to own a baseball team. But not the Nationals. No one is going to the games anymore, they're not winning games anymore, and their general manager has all but demolished the team. In short, off all the bad teams in the league, (with the possible exception of the Royals and Pirates,) they probably have the smallest upside. Oh yeah, and the oft-hated Padres. And you're gonna give up money - almost half a million, no less - to get in on that?

Whatever. These guys must have made their money somehow, so they must know what they're doing. They can probably pull an Angels marketing trick, (lest we forget that the name change was intended to make LA fans feel more included and draw them away from the stinky Dodgers,) and find some way to draw from the Orioles. Which won't be too hard, seeing as they're really bad. No doubt, that will make Peter Angelos go ballistic. Recall that he didn't want the Expos coming to DC because they would draw from his fan base, and he made some outrageous claim along the lines of a $1 billion loss or something. It's good to see that Angelos is more concerned with a competing team than he is about the fact that his team is getting worse and worse every year. Here's a hint, Pete - if your team wins, you'll sell more tickets. However, if you're really bad, you won't draw fans to the yard. I think Selig gave him a television network and he shut up.

Bottom line: Jim Bowden can get in the unemployment line now, because he's about to be out of a job. The fact that the new owners are willing to pay for the Nationals makes me doubt their reasoning skills. But even the most rudimentary rules of business that even the most basic businessman knows dictates that what Bowden is doing to the team - destroying it - is a big no-no. He'll be fired. Maybe at the end of the season, at the latest.

Strong showing on the comments, guys. Three for all of yesterday. We're getting there. As far as the posting schedule goes, we're looking at hopefully seeing something Saturday night or Sunday morning. Then we'll be back to a daily format until Thursday or Friday, (4th/5th.) After that, we might see short posts like yesterday's that aren't too extensive and don't have a lot to do with specific games until the 10th. I head home from school the night of the 10th (Wednesday,) and after that it won't be long before the podcasts and website starting coming online. The website can be found at www.baseballradioshow.com. Anyway, I'm telling you this because I don't want you to think that the next 10 days are gonna be the "new" BHGM - it's just a short break.