Leadership!

A whole bunch of mildy interesting stuff happened today.

• We got Wil Cordero. One year, $600,000. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about with the first base situation had Bowden traded Nick Johnson. Cordero can hit lefties and presumably will spell Johnson or Terrmel Sledge against them, he doesn't cost much, and he could be good for some free publicity. All snarkiness aside, I hope he's gotten his personal life straightened out.
• Jeffrey Hammonds got a minor league deal. I'd be kind of surprised to see him on the major league roster unless we ship some outfielders out of here. He can hit every once in a while, but he makes Nick Johnson look like Cal Ripken. The dude has never played a full season.
• There was the Rule 5 draft. I know nothing about any of these guys and won't presume to comment. John Sickels discusses it here.
• The uniforms will be unveiled Wednesday at 2 in the afternoon at the ESPNZone downtown. Terrmel Sledge and Zach Day will be there to do their little dance on the catwalk. I don't think I can make it, given that I have a job.
• Finally, and most importantly, the second and final city council vote is tomorrow. If the stadium financing passes, and it will, that's it; we win.

I assume you've heard about the Sosa rumor. It's utterly ridiculous, and it won't happen. The current "offer" is Sosa in exchange for Brad Wilkerson and all of Sosa's salary. This is one of those rare trades that's bad for everyone. The Cubs would be paying $18 million a year for Sosa to play for someone else plus whatever Wilkerson would be making, which, given his career trajectory, would be considerable in a couple of years. We would be getting a declining, whiny, proven cheater who's not as good right now as the young player we're giving up, as the Washington Baseball Blog shows us.

So it's silly and we don't have to worry about it. Peruse the Post article, though.

But lest any Nationals fans get worked up about the possibility of Sosa playing at RFK Stadium, the discussions appear to be merely an indication of Washington General Manager Jim Bowden's attitude, which some consider creative and others say is overzealous.

Some would call it frigging stupid.

"Whatever dollars we have to spend, it's going to starting pitching," Bowden said.

Get me a center fielder, dammit. We have starting pitching.

Another indication of Bowden's willingness to listen: He met Sunday with Oakland General Manager Billy Beane about one of the A's starting pitchers, another virtual impossibility for Washington.

This and the first excerpt are evidence of what I've been saying about Bowden all along. Note the absence of any concern for the quality of the team, either in the short or long term. Bowden is here solely to create buzz for himself. The more he gets his name in papers and on the front page of ESPN.com, the more likely he'll be to get himself a real GM job. "Hey, Billy! How about Ohka for Hudson?" "No, Jim." "Nice talking to you, BB. Hey, Gammons! Guess who I was just talking to?" At least this round of self-aggrandizement didn't cost us anything.