Thom Loverro: Bowden discovers his calling in La-La Land

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By Thom Loverro

"So I sat in there in that locker room on that March 1 morning and said to all the players and coaches and the managers, I said, 'I'm paid to make the best decisions for the front of the jersey, so my final decision ever as a major league general manager is my resignation today. And I wish all of you nothing but success. I will be rooting for you. But I believe at this time it is in the best interests of this franchise that I step down and let someone else take the reins,' and that is what happened."

I'll pause so you can wipe the tears from your eyes...

Jim in L.A. also talked about other issues of interest to Nationals fans - such as spending money on players.

"We didn't have the resources to ever have a competitive payroll, or we weren't able to sign our first-round pick because we weren't given the dollars to finish that," he said. "But the reality is it is going to be a gold mine. It is just going to take some time."

Jim in L.A. said the money will be there for Strasburg in this year's draft.

"Washington is going to draft Strasburg," he said. "The decision has already been made. It was made when I was there. That is who they are going to take. ... This is the best amateur pitcher since I was born. He is that good - his delivery, his stuff, 100 miles an hour in the eighth inning, his makeup. He's got the entire package. ... Strasburg is going to be drafted by Washington. You think they are going to sign him early? No, it's going to be Aug. 15 at 11:57 p.m. It will end at around $15 million, about under $35 million of what Scott [Boras] wants, but that is where it ends up. It will be record-breaking, and he will be pitching in the big leagues in September. He is that good."

And Jim in L.A. said the money was there for Teixeira: "The Washington Nationals offered more money and more years than anybody in baseball. People don't know that. It's not public. But that's the truth. The reality in this is Mark Teixeira had made up his mind. He was going to go to the Yankees."

Jim in L.A. has been on the show at least twice since, and most of those appearances dealt with questions about the Dodgers, Angels and other baseball topics - save for putting demoted Nationals reliever Steven Shell on the trading block.

"The Nationals actually do have one bullpen guy who could help the Angels right now, and it's Steve Shell," he said. "... This is a guy that I think could help the Angels' bullpen. He's certainly not a setup [man] or closer, but he is someone who could definitely help in the middle relief. So that is the one guy that that club has that is available and who the Angels could trade for."

Now the guy wants to stink up another bullpen.

Jim in L.A. may have finally found his calling. You're next on "Dialing Up the Dawg."