Jim Bowden

James Goodwin Bowden IV

• School Rollins College

• Born May 18, 1961 in Weston, MA USA

Biographical Information

Jim Bowden was the assistant farm director of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1987 to 1989. He had worked in sports radio in college and first joined the Pirates' media relations department after graduation in 1985. he had obtained the job thanks to a college friendship with the grandson of owner John Galbraith. There he became a protégé of GM Syd Thrift, who gave him a job in the baseball operations department, and took him along when he moved to the New York Yankees in 1988.

He moved to the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, and he was the Reds' Director of Player Development in 1992 and General Manager from October 1992 to 2003. When he was named, he was the youngest GM in baseball history. Bowden became General Manager of the Washington Nationals in November of 2004, just prior to the team's relocation to the Nation's capital. On March 1, 2009 Bowden resigned as GM of the Nationals citing himself as a distraction following the controversy around Esmailyn Gonzalez and allegations of skimming bonuses to Latin American players.

He later became a baseball analyst for ESPN, SiriusXM Radio and various other media. He also hosted a blog named "The GM's Office" on ESPN.com.

Preceded by Bob Quinn

Cincinnati Reds General Manager 1992-2003

Succeeded by Dan O'Brien

Preceded by Omar Minaya

Washington Nationals General Manager 2005-2009

Succeeded by Mike Rizzo

Record as General Manager

Draft Picks

Reds 1st Round

• 1993: Lost original pick for signing John Smiley
• 1993: 32nd overall OF Pat Watkins - East Carolina University
• 1994: 9th overall P C.J. Nitkowski - St. John's University
• 1995: No Pick (lost for signing Damon Berryhill)
• 1996: 25th overall OF John Oliver - Lake-Lehman High School
• 1996: 32nd overall P Matt McClendon - Dr. Phillips High School
• 1997: 14th overall SS Brandon Larson - Louisiana State University
• 1998: 7th overall OF Austin Kearns - Lafayette High School (Lexington)
• 1999: 14th overall P Ty Howington - Hudson's Bay High School
• 2000: 23rd overall SS David Espinosa - Gulliver Preparatory School
• 2000: 34th overall P Dustin Moseley - Arkansas High School
• 2001: 20th overall P Jeremy Sowers - Ballard High School Did Not Sign
• 2002: 3rd overall P Chris Gruler -Liberty Union High School
• 2002: 40th overall P Mark Schramek - University of Texas
• 2003: 14th overall P Ryan Wagner - University of Houston

Reds Other Notables

• 1994: 3rd round (72nd overall) 3B Aaron Boone - USC
• 1995: 2nd round (54th overall) P Brett Tomko - Florida Southern College
• 1995: 5th round (139th overall) OF Jason LaRue - Dallas Baptist University
• 1997: 2nd round (66th overall) SS Travis Dawkins - Newberry High School
• 1997: 9th round (278th overall) P Scott Williamson - Oklahoma State University
• 1997: 2nd round (50th overall) OF Adam Dunn - New Caney High School
• 1998: 17th round (500th overall) P B.J. Ryan - University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• 1999: 2nd round (65th overall) 1B Ben Broussard - McNeese State University
• 2002: 2nd round (44th overall) 3B Joey Votto - Richview Collegiate Institute

Nationals 1st Round Picks

• 2005: 4th overall 3B Ryan Zimmerman - University of Virginia
• 2006: 15th overall OF Chris Marrero -Monsignor Pace High School
• 2006: 22nd overall P Colton Willems - John Carroll High School
• 2007: 6th overall P Ross Detwiler - Missouri State University
• 2008: 9th overall P Aaron Crow - University of Missouri

Significant Trades

Reds

• November 3, 1992 traded Paul O'Neill and Joe DeBerry to the New York Yankees for Roberto Kelly
• November 17, 1992 traded Norm Charlton to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin Mitchell
• November 2, 1993 traded Dan Wilson and Bobby Ayala to the Seattle Mariners for Bret Boone and Erik Hanson
• December 10, 1993 traded Larry Luebbers, Darron Cox and Mike Anderson to the Chicago Cubs for Chuck McElroy
• May 29, 1994 traded Roberto Kelly and Roger Etheridge to the Atlanta Braves for Deion Sanders
• July 21, 1995 traded Deion Sanders, Scott Service, John Roper, David McCarty and Ricky Pickett to the San Francisco Giants for Mark Portugal, Dave Burba and Darren Lewis
• July 31, 1995 traded C.J. Nitkowski, Dave Tuttle and Mark Lewis to the Detroit Tigers for David Wells
• May 27, 1996 traded Chuck McElroy to the California Angels for Lee Smith
• July 31, 1997 traded Jeff Branson and John Smiley to the Cleveland Indians for Danny Graves, Damian Jackson, Scott Winchester and Jim Crowell
• November 10, 1997 traded Jeff Brantley to the St. Louis Cardinals for Dmitri Young
• March 30, 1998 traded Dave Burba to the Cleveland Indians for Sean Casey
• July 4, 1998 traded Jeff Shaw to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Paul Konerko and Dennys Reyes
• November 10, 1998 traded Bret Boone and Mike Remlinger to the Atlanta Braves for Denny Neagle, Rob Bell and Michael Tucker
• November 11, 1998 traded Paul Konerko to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Cameron
• February 2, 1999 traded Reggie Sanders, Damian Jackson and Josh Harris to the San Diego Padres for Greg Vaughn and Mark Sweeney
• July 31, 1999 traded B.J. Ryan and Jacobo Sequea to the Baltimore Orioles for Juan Guzman
• October 30, 1999 traded Jeffrey Hammonds and Stan Belinda to the Colorado Rockies for Dante Bichette
• February 10, 2000 traded Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez, Jake Meyer and Brett Tomko to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Griffey, Jr
• July 12, 2000 traded Denny Neagle and Mike Frank to the New York Yankees for Drew Henson, Ed Yarnall, Jackson Melian and Brian Reith
• March 21, 2001 traded Drew Henson and Michael Coleman to the New York Yankees for Wily Mo Pena
• June 15, 2001 traded Rob Bell to the Texas Rangers for Ruben Mateo and Edwin Encarnacion
• July 11, 2002 traded Juan Encarnacion, Wilton Guerrero and Ryan Snare to the Florida Marlins for Ryan Dempster
• July 30, 2003 traded Jose Guillen to the Oakland Athletics for Aaron Harang, Joe Valentine and Jeff Bruksch
• July 31, 2003 traded Aaron Boone to the New York Yankees for Charlie Manning and Brandon Claussen

Nationals

• November 19, 2004 traded Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis to the Los Angeles Angels for Jose Guillen
• July 13, 2005 traded J.J. Davis and Zach Day to the Colorado Rockies for Preston Wilson
• December 8, 2005 traded Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and Armando Galarraga to the Texas Rangers for Alfonso Soriano
• July 31, 2006 traded Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Gary Majewski, Brendan Harris and Daryl Thompson to the Cincinnati Reds for Austin Kearns, Ryan Wagner and Felipe Lopez
• December 18, 2006 traded Jose Vidro to the Seattle Mariners for Chris Snelling and Emiliano Fruto

Significant Signings

Reds

• December 1, 1992 signed John Smiley as a Free Agent from the Minnesota Twins
• January 19, 1993 signed Jeff Reardon as a free agent from the Atlanta Braves
• January 4, 1994 signed Jeff Brantley as a free agent from the San Francisco Giants

Nationals

• November 16, 2004 signed Cristian Guzman as a free agent from the Minnesota Twins