Bowden rippers, give it a rest

It's hip to rip J.G.B. IV now... apparently, it's Bowden's fault the Reds are underachieving and have no decent players in their system over the age of 21....even though he hasnt been here in almost four years. A few things:

Jeff Brantley, Jeff Shaw, Pete Harnisch, Pete Schourek, Denny Neagle, John Smiley;

A few more:

Danny Graves, Ron Gant, Eric Davis, Kevin Mitchell, Scott Williamson, Scott Sullivan;

And:

Dave Burba, David Wells, Mark Portugal = 18 wins last nine weeks of '95 = division title... all acquired in 10-day span after all-star break.

Greg Vaughn.

Burba for Sean Casey.

Smiley for Graves... Smiley won -- count 'em -- two games the rest of his career after the deal. Graves is the Reds' all-time saves leader.

Felipe Lopez for Elmer Dessens. Edwin Encarnacion for Rob Bell. Who?

Not enough time to mention all the stats these gentleman accumulated for winning Reds clubs that Bowden put together. You could look it up.

What would the Reds record be now if their bullpen had the '07 versions of the '99 tandem of graves, williamson and sullivan? About 38-6.

If you don't like Bowden personally, fine. The grievance list is long: Tony, for starters. But to suggest Bowden was a lousy GM is idiotic. Fans and media scream for W. Krivsky to Do Something. Bowden did things, so cut the hypocrisy. Read an extended rant on this subject in Monday's Enquirer.

Live big, 5-Tool-Man. (OK, so Ruben Mateo and Willie Greene stunk.)