Kasten's Nats

Just a quick note about something I read this morning about the Nationals on ESPN.com. I'm not surprised to see an article written like this about Washington. The team has been close to terrible since it's come to the Nation's Capital and they are still years away from developing a farm system that will produce annually. Also, everything I've heard from folks around the game and from my brief experiences working with them and attending games at Nationals' Park has alluded to this sentiment: The organization is in disarray.

But one section of the article took me by surprise from the above reading and it makes me sad:

It's no secret in baseball circles that club president Stan Kasten has chafed over his role in the hierarchy. In late September, both Washington newspapers, the Post and the Times, described Kasten as frustrated with his lack of organizational clout. According to the Post, Kasten has had difficulty coping with the Lerner family's "hands-on, tight-fisted management style."

One baseball executive who's friendly with Kasten told ESPN.com that the Nationals' president was "miserable" in his current role. Kasten declined an e-mail request for an interview but recently insisted that he'll be back with the organization in 2009. Nevertheless, his name has been bandied around in Toronto in conjunction with the Blue Jays' vacant CEO position -- in part because of his friendship with interim CEO Paul Beeston.

If this has any merit the organization is doomed.

Here's an update on what I have planned for the Winter Meetings next week:

Like I said in an earlier post, I've been trying to schedule meetings with different teams in an effort to get them to hire me. Yesterday I had two promising leads come through. One with the Cardinals and one with the Diamondbacks. Lead is a relatively loose term though, so in other words I'll get a chance to hobnob with some of the lower rung officials, shake some hands, and pass out some resumes. Nevertheless, it's positive. The others I plan on meeting with are the Brewers, Reds, and the O's.

I'll be sure to keep you abreast if Theo rings the celly.