Seated at a table with Nationals president Stan Kasten before a small contingent of reporters and team officials, Bowden read from a prepared statement, sometimes deviating from the script as he struggled to contain his emotions.
No replacement was announced.
"We're not planning on missing a beat," Kasten said. "Our staff has a meeting [this] morning, first thing. I'm not going to have anything to say to you about next steps for a while - later in the week."
Bowden is the only GM the Nationals have had since the franchise moved from Montreal before the 2005 season, overseeing a team that went 81-81 in that debut season but has been below .500 ever since.
Bowden met last year with FBI investigators looking into allegations of skimming of signing bonuses, and SI.com reported last weekend that Bowden's actions are being examined as far back as 1994, when he was GM of the Reds.
Bowden's resignation came three days after Jose Rijo, a special assistant to Bowden, was fired by the Nationals.
That was fallout from an MLB investigation that determined a top prospect from the Dominican Republic who received a $1.4 million signing bonus from the Nationals lied about his age and name.
A-Rod cooperative
Alex Rodriguez
has met with MLB officials, who sought to interview the Yankees slugger about his admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-03 with the Rangers.
The commissioner's office released a statement saying Rodriguez was cooperative in a 2-hour interview yesterday with officials from MLB's Department of Investigations and Labor Relations Department.
No further details were revealed, and the statement said the commissioner's office would have no additional comment at this time.
Earlier in the day Rodriguez was coy about whether he would be meeting with league officials, telling reporters, "I'm not sure what I'm doing [today]."
Dodgers play hard ball
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