The New Nats Owner

by user BRG

Well, the rumors proved true. Lerner got the bid. Except for a few local politicians who felt it was more important to have a number of black faces in the ownership team, everyone seems happy with the choice. General manager Jim Bowden (who writes a column in the Washington Examiner) says it's the right choice -- though, to be sure, this may only mean that Lerner promised to keep him on! And (except, as I said, for some race-baiting local politicians) every comment I've seen has been favorable.

It's hard not to feel sorry for the Malek team. They were trying for years to bring baseball to the DC area. Perhaps they should have gotten the bid for that reason. But for whatever reasons, Lerner's team was chosen.

I think I am in a particularly good position to look at this as a neutral; I live in the DC metro area but I'm not a Nats fan (my loyalty will never leave the Yankees!) nor a fan of a team that's likely to be a Nats rival. They're in the other league from my Yanks, so except for a few interleague games they don't even play them. But my being a Yankee fan means I know how important a good owner can be. Whatever people say about Steinbrenner, he's done a good job in making the Yankees a winner. He knows you need to spend the money; when the Yanks were owned by CBS, they were an abysmal excuse for a Yankee baseball team, but the Steinbrenner-owned Yankees are back on top of the pack. So it's going to be fascinating to see what the Lerner ownership team does. Apparently they've gotten off to a good start; their choice of Kasten to head the team's managemement has the applause of everyone who knows what he did in Atlanta.

Let's all see what the new owners can do!

Date
Thu 05/04/06, 5:11 am EST