Jim Williams, The Examiner
Dec 6, 2006 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 3 of 11,789 articles
WASHINGTON - Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings are underway in Orlando, Fla., and the Nationals have stated publicly they plan to sit on the sidelines while general managers, agents and the like discuss deals and shake up rosters.
But when I spoke to ESPN baseball insider Steve Phillips on Tuesday morning, he laughed and said, “Do you really think that Jim Bowden is not going to pull off something?”
Phillips confirmed a trade that would send Boston’s Manny Ramirez to the Giants for Barry Bonds is indeed a real possibility. Oh, by the way, the Nationals would play a key role in the complex three-way deal.
Phillips on the possible deal: “Neither side has all the parts to pull this deal off at the moment so Jim [Bowden] has some players he is willing to part with that could make the deal happen while giving Washington a number of prime prospects from both the Giants and the Red Sox.Look three team deals are very tough to pull off but the fact that Bowden is in the middle of this one shows just how creative a GM he really is. Even if the deal does not work you can bet that Jim will be looking for clever ways to help the Nationals that is why he is so good at his job."
“The key piece of the deal for the Nationals could be 26-year-old Giants pitcher Noah Lowery while either Felipe Lopez or Cristian Guzman and other players (closer Chad Cordero’s name came up but that was denied by Bowden) could be headed to either San Francisco or Boston. This deal is moving along and has a real chance of getting done. So much for Jim sitting things out.”Phillips told me.
Phillips is high on all the moves the Nationals have made thus far. “The hiring of Manny Acta was a great move,” Phillips said. “He is a wonderful baseball mind and the stockpiling of over 40 minor leaguers was a no-lose deal. The team of Bowden and Stan Kasten is going to make Washington a premier franchise.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
Examiner
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