The "minimal vitriol" rule pretty much keeps me from making an extensive
posting of my thoughts, but here are a few issues, as I see them:

Beyond the specific moves, which mostly stack up against Bowden, the biggest
problem I have is that he doesn't seem to have a plan.  He reacts to problems
as they arise rather than anticipating them; he goes after the biggest name
and the toolsiest OFs without really considering the long-term goal of
building a consistent winner.  Perhaps that's just the nature of the
situation he's in in DC, but I didn't get a sense that he was any better in
Cincinnati.  That was my biggest problem with most of the deals he made as
Nats GM -- it doesn't matter if Junior Spivey, or Preston Wilson, or
Castilla, or even Esteban Loaiza work out well or not -- none of them were
ever going to be part of a truly good Nationals team.  Why waste energy,
spare talent, and money pursuing/signing them when what you really need is to
think about the next five years of the franchise's future?