Job Security Like Jim Bowden

[Centerfield]

Gotta love the job security Jim Bowden enjoys. He's currently a co-host of SiriusXM's "Inside Pitch" on MLB Network Radio and a columnist for The Athletic. He's previously worked for ESPN, and served as the GM of the Reds and Nationals.

Anyway, Jim has been on fire this winter with his insider takes.

Juan Soto

It's likely that the oddness of the situation -- and Soto's comfort in pinstripes -- factored into former MLB GM Jim Bowden's assessment of his favorite fit for the 26-year-old slugger this offseason. Bowden picked the Yankees as his favorite fit for Soto, aligning with ESPN MLB's panel of experts, a group that predicted 12-to-6 on Tuesday that he'd land back in the Bronx (12 Yankees, 4 Mets, 2 Blue Jays).

https://yanksgoyard.com/yankees-fans-wi ... d-sox-take



Blake Snell

As part of his list of 25 early offseason predictions, Jim Bowden of The Athletic offered an outlook that should excite Orioles fans. "The Orioles ink Blake Snell to a three-year, $105 million deal and then trade three strong prospects to the Athletics for flame-throwing closer Mason Miller, whom they convert back to a starting pitcher," Bowden wrote.

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/mlb/mlb ... on-1979111


Corbin Burnes

Bowden also projects Orioles ace Corbin Burnes to land with the New York Mets

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/mlb/mlb ... on-1979111


Max Fried

But MLB insider Jim Bowden recently projected Soto to sign back with the Yankees in a deal worth north of $600 million. For the Mets, they would then have quite a lot of money to spend on the rest of the free agency class -- and that's exactly what Bowden projects them to do. "The Mets focus on starting pitching in free agency and manage to sign both Corbin Burnes and Max Fried to long-term contracts while also bringing back first baseman Pete Alonso, dropping more than half a billion in future salary commitments to land the trio"

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/mlb/mlb ... rs-1978715


Willy Adames

Jim Bowden predicts six-year, $150 million deal for Willy Adames with Dodgers this offseason

https://dodgersway.com/ex-mlb-gm-predic ... 0required).


Christian Walker

This winter's signing could be a first baseman with pop, something the Mariners haven't had since the days of Richie Sexson. Jim Bowden of The Athletic predicted on Friday that Seattle would sign Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Christian Walker to a three-year deal. "The Mariners sign first baseman Christian Walker (three years, $72 million), improving offensively and defensively at the position," Bowden said.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/sea ... a28a98615c


Yusei Kikuchi

Jim Bowden of The Athletic didn't project any nine-figure signings for the Red Sox, but he did pair them with a starter they've seen lots of in previous American League East matchups. He predicted that Boston would ink former Toronto Blue Jays star Yusei Kikuchi, most recently of the Houston Astros, to a three-year, $42 million contract.

https://www.si.com/mlb/red-sox/boston-r ... den%20said.



Of course, to be fair, free agent predictions are incredibly tough to make. But it's crazy that a guy can make a good living just throwing out random guesses. Other than Soto, I don't think any of these players were even linked to the teams that Bowden predicted. And I don't need to be an insider to tell you the Mets weren't going to sign Burnes or Fried, much less both of them.

[bmfc1]

Good comments. I subscribe to The Athletic and find his work to be nearly worthless. He's just making guesses like he's picking football games and it's without any accountability. I'd rather read Jayson Stark going out of his mind about the first game in history to last 2:38 and 45 seconds.

[Edgy MD]

You're certainly right, but it's the nature of the opinion industrial complex. The check writers don't care if you have any insight, as long as you have an audience.

It'd be nice if the likes of Mike Francesa had to be accountable, but I'm not expecting to live to see it.

[Centerfield]

I feel like there is a difference between the job descriptions for a guy like Mike Francesa and someone like Jim Bowden.

Francesa, or someone like Sal Licata or whoever else is on talk radio, is asked to create an audience and be entertaining. They offer opinions. And yes, any public figure should be held accountable for opinions they offer, but as far as I know, they don't hold themselves out to be the authority on any of these topics, and don't claim to have any inside information.

Jim Bowden is paid to be an MLB insider. He has experience as a GM, and the implication is that the relationships he formed over the years makes him privy to information that the rest of us can't access. You pay attention to what he says, not because he's entertaining, or a wonderful writer, but because he's supposed to know more than other people. He is supposed to be a journalist with good, credible sources.

But he's not. Or at least his track record suggests that he's not. If he has sources, they're crap. He's just wrong, over and over again. I could have put out predictions that were just as accurate if not better than Jim Bowden's. It boggles my mind that someone that is paid to get things right can just be wrong all the time, and keep his job anyway. Nice gig.

[Frayed Knot]

Francesa, or someone like Sal Licata or whoever else is on talk radio, is asked to create an audience and be entertaining. They offer opinions. ... but as far as I know, they don't hold themselves out to be the authority on any of these topics, and don't claim to have any inside information.

Francesa holds himself out as an authority on EVERY topic!!
Sports, finance, JFK, 9/11, The Sopranos, ... the list is too long for our bandwidth.

[metirish]

Can't say I've read much Bowden work , but I'm a subscriber to The Athletic ( Everytime I cancel they give me a better deal) they have excellent Manchester United writers and podcast... I'll pay more attention to Bowden.

Picking up in what FK said , I always had to laugh when him and 'Dog did NHL stuff, they didn't care for the sport but would have Bettman on and tell him how to make it better, Mike especially

[Edgy MD]

Having different standards for Bowden and Francesa's jobs makes some sense, I guess, but isn't Francesa billed as "The Sports Pope" or something?

Somebody is claiming an authority for the guy. You have to be dumber to buy it, but dumb people deserve good faith too.

But yeah, Jim Bowden clearly has some expertise in his field, but a trained journalist's access to inside information does not appear to be an actual part of his skill set, and "Insider" is seemingly far from an accurate descriptor.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think I mentioned this in another thread not so long ago, but the sheer number of news articles about trade predictions and signing predictions is ridiculous. And the headlines are structured in a way that might make someone think that whatever is being predicted is actually going to happen. If these things were accurate, Vlad Jr. would be a Met by now.

[MFS62]

but isn't Francesa billed as "The Sports Pope or something?

Somebody is claiming an authority for the guy.

I think he was called that sarcastically by another sports writer (maybe the guy who writes about sports media for the NY Post- Phil Mushnick?) and it stuck.
Later

[metirish]

Bowden gives his analysis on teams off-season so far


New York Mets
Grade: A-minus

Free agents:

• RF Juan Soto, 15 years/$765 million
• LHP Sean Manaea, 3 years/$75 million
• RHP Clay Holmes, 3 years/$38 million
• RHP Frankie Montas 2 years/$34 million
• RHP Griffin Canning, 1 year/$4.25 million
• RHP Dylan Covey 1 year/$850,000

Trades:

• Acquired CF Jose Siri from Rays for RHP Eric Orze

Key takeaways: The Mets outbid the Yankees to win the Soto sweepstakes, but in the end grossly overpaid, even for a generational player, because their owner could. However, Soto brings high energy, charisma and elite on-base skills. To get the most out of Soto’s abilities, I think they must re-sign Pete Alonso or acquire another big bat to provide protection directly behind him in the lineup to prevent teams from intentionally walking him in key spots.

President of baseball operations David Stearns again sought to build their rotation around shorter-term free-agent deals; I liked the moves despite the risk that comes with that type of strategy. Bringing back Manaea was the key and Montas was the best risk based on how he finished last season. Holmes, who will attempt to transition from reliever to starter, will probably end up back in the bullpen.


Big question: Can they bring back Alonso to play first base and give Soto protection in their lineup?

Season prediction: Third place


Jim has the Phillies 1st ,Braves 2nd



https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/604912 ... ed-article