Great article from WaPo's Mike Wise

Thomas Boswell may very well be one of the best writers who devotes his efforts to sports in the Nation, but many of his idea’s tend to be outdated.

The Nationals Journal is solid, but Chico Harlan has said he doesn’t like baseball. And while sometimes you’ll find a real treasure on there, mostly you are disappointed with the thoroughness.

Mike Wise however wrote an excellent story today writing about the terrible mishandling of Frank Robinson in his column, “Robinson Deserved Better.”

The article goes into the terrible miscommunication between Bowden, Kasten, and Robinson. It shows how the two executives led the baseball legend on with insincere comments with their intensions hidden behind a smoke shield of obscurity.

Here are some excerpts, I encourage all of you to read the whole story here.

“Kasten, the team president; and by association the Lerner family uncomfortably strung Robinson along until the very end of his second season in Washington. That's how Frank Robinson said it went down.”

"Robinson said he first asked Bowden in July 2006 if the organization wanted him to return. Bowden, he said, asked what he was looking for in the way of salary. "I ask for a million a year and I said I could go for two or three more years," Robinson said he told him.

"Well, you better ask for a little bit more," Bowden said, according to Robinson. "Because you know the way they are; they'll cut you down."

Bowden said he would get back to Robinson but kept putting him off, Robinson said. "Finally, I said point blank, 'Jim, if you're back as general manager, am I your manager next year?' He said, 'Absolutely.' That's good enough for me. I hold people to their word."