Deconstructing Peter

I was gonna rip Andrew Jackson's newest column, but I see our fine friends at Distinguished Senators already beat me to the punch.

Here's his take:

I remain less than hopeful about our offseason. I'm afraid that Bowden may understand that his role (just get 25 guys to wear the uniform until the owners take over) but sees this as his chance to make a big splash and get a new job, even at the expense of his interim employers. Plus he seems far too concerned with RBIs and "run producers." I know Tony Batista drove in 110 runs last year, but that doesn't mean he's good at anything.

I'm not so bullish on Bowden. I just haven't seen those kill-the-franchise-type moves even suggested. You don't see him making a move for a 5-year deal to Varitek or 3-year deals to Omar Vizquel.

The only firm offer we've heard so far is a multi-year contract offer to Tony Batista--and from the reports, I'm guessing that that was actually Tony Taveres' offer, made before Bowden took the job.

Other than his unwillingness to give Juan Rivera a fair shot, we haven't heard anything supremely stupid, Vinny Castilla excluded. I think we'd be better off waiting a few weeks to see how things shake out instead of using past judgements to crucify the guy before he has a chance. He did pretty well--with some notable exceptions--in Cincinnati. And everything I've read indicates he understands the transitional nature of this job. And I think he probably realized that the less he shakes the boat now, the better his chances of having the full-time job are going to be.