Photo by randomduck.

If you consider yourself a Nationals devotee — or even if you just find constant amusement in the walking joke that the team has become — this column by Mike Wise in today’s Post is a must-read: in it, Wise makes the case that former manager Frank Robinson got an incredibly raw deal when he was forced out at the end of the 2006 season.

There’s some fantastic stuff in Wise’s story, centering around Robinson, who was apparently eager to lead the team for years to come — and management, led by former General Manager Jim Bowden and team President Stan Kasten who, according to Robinson, strung him along for months:

Kasten eventually came to Robinson’s office, he said, and was surprised to hear Robinson say he wanted to manage for three more years.

“Oh, wow,” Robinson said Kasten told him, relating the conversation.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s a little surprising.”

[…]

“But [Kasten] said, ‘No matter what happens here, you’ll always have a job here because you’re a good baseball man and we’d like to have you in this organization and take advantage of your skills, ability and knowledge.’ “

One should keep in mind that this was a manager who, while at the helm, led two fairly talent-strapped Nationals teams to 81-81 and 71-91 records in 2005 and 2006, respectively; records that look amazingly good when viewed in the light of this year’s campaign, where the Nats currently have fewer wins than Albert Pujols has home runs.