Bowden, Boone Take the Fall Cincinnati Cleans House

Just as Pittsburgh, Detroit and Milwaukee have done since 2000,
Cincinnati fired key decision-makers after they failed to put a
decent team into a new ballpark. On Monday, with the Reds in
fifth place in the NL Central (46-58), owner John Allen fired
G.M. Jim Bowden and manager Bob Boone after the team had won only
22 of the first 51 games in Great American Ball Park.

Bowden constructed a club that has woeful pitching and defense,
while the contracts of oft-injured veterans Ken Griffey Jr. and
Barry Larkin ate up more than a third of the $58 million payroll.
In 11 years Bowden's teams had four winning seasons and reached
the playoffs once. Boone, known as a meddlesome micromanager, has
never had a winning season in eight years as a minor league and
major league manager, including the past three in Cincinnati.
--Tom Verducci

Read Tom Verducci's Inside Baseball column every week at
si.com/baseball.