Sorting this all out

It's another beautiful morning in Viera, and the Nats are on the field at Space Coast Stadium taking infield practice and preparing for the Detroit Tigers, who will be arriving shortly. There's every reason to be excited about a promising, positve day ahead... Except this is Nats camp, where no day ends as it began. Seriously, find me another team in the big leagues that has made as much news (mostly negative) in the last two weeks than these guys have. The latest, for those who may have missed it last night, is the firing of Jose Rijo. Which is to say: The Nats have decided to fire their special assistant to the GM, they just haven't told him yet. Makes for some awkward conversations, as you might imagine. So what does today hold in store? Well, the focus is now squarely on Jim Bowden. For the record, he is still the general manager of this baseball team. I know there are rumors floating out there about this, but the man is still employed. He's here at the ballpark, met with Manny Acta earlier this morning, is currently standing at the batting cage watching guys take BP. Will Bowden still be the GM by the time spring training ends? By the end of the week? By the end of the day? This now appears to be the primary question. Here's what I have gathered from discussions with a lot of different people, both with the Nats and outside the organization but in the know: -- A portion of the Nats' ownership, perhaps even a majority, is ready to fire Bowden. But not everyone in ownership. -- Several sources believe that nothing is imminent, that ownership wants to wait things out, see how the ongoing MLB and FBI investigations play out, before making a final decision. However, two other people I've spoken to in the last 12 hours believe there's a good chance the move could come by the end of the weekend. -- If a move is made, the consensus among everyone I've spoken to is that assistant GM Mike Rizzo would be promoted. He'd probably be given the job on an interim basis, which would both allow ownership to see how he handled things while also maintaining some continuity in the organization as the season opens and (maybe most important) as the club prepares for the No. 1 and No. 10 picks in the June draft. -- The Nats have absolutely not contacted Tony LaCava, the Toronto Blue Jays assistant GM whose name was the subject of much rumor yesterday. LaCava might very well be one of several candidates for the job if and when it becomes available, but he wouldn't be the only one and certainly wouldn't just be handed the job. So there's your morning update. I would check back as the day plays out, though. Because as we've seen, a lot can change between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. around here.