Every so often in this profession, you write an article knowing it's going to touch a few nerves. Criticism isn't going to sit well with everyone, especially those who are actually being criticized. But when it happens, you show up to work the next day, and if someone wants to let you know what they really thought about your work, you give them the opportunity to express those feelings (hopefully in a productive manner). It's all part of the job, and over time you learn how to deal with it....

When Stan Kasten was the Washington Nationals' president, before the former Atlanta Braves president left the nation's capital and became president and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he shared an anecdote with reporters about a phone call from retired, legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox, who had called him after watching Ross Detwiler pitch. "This is unbelieveable, this is the exact way we did it." Cox told Kasten, referring to the rotation Atlanta assembled featuring Tom Glavine,...

After spending the last six seasons with the Nationals, Pat Corrales has left the organization to become a special assistant to Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti. Corrales served in a number of roles during his time with the Nationals. He was the team's bench coach on three separate occasions (2007-08, the second half of 2009 and the second half of 2011), served as a special assistant to the GM and most recently spent this last season working in player development. Corrales roamed...

VIERA, Fla. - Stan Kasten was once an NBA general manager. Now the former president of the Nationals is back in baseball, only with an NBA Hall of Famer by his side. Kasten and Magic Johnson are part of a group which agreed to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2 billion late last night. The purchase will get Kasten back into the major leagues, although in some ways, Kasten never left, even after resigning as Nationals president after the 2010 season. He was still seen around the Nats'...

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced late Tuesday that the team will be purchased for a record $2.15 billion by a group that includes former NBA and Los Angeles Lakers great Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Also a part of the group is former Nationals and Atlanta Braves team president Stan Kasten. Johnson's group won out the right to buy the Dodgers over groups led by multiple sports team owner Stan Kroenke and New York Mets limited partner Steven Cohen. Johnson said in a statement: "I am thrilled to...

When baseball wags talk about a "player to be named later" - and really, shouldn't it be "player to be named," since you're already talking about something that will happen in the future? - they mean an asset in a trade that's yet to be determined. In Washington, that nomenclature has a totally different meaning, since the Nationals have had to deal with the subterfuge and deception that actually caused them not to know the name of a Dominican teenager to whom they gave a $1.4 million...

Depending on your point of view, general manager Mike Rizzo is either a forward-thinking executive who just made a decisive move that landed the Nationals a front-line starting pitcher with the trade for Gio Gonzalez, or he's the overreacting fool who just mortgaged the club's farm system and future for a chance to win sooner rather than later. But Rizzo's latest deal, whatever it does or does not produce, is also perfect fodder for our "What if?" Wednesday discussion, which this week...

After witnessing the end of Jim Riggleman's tenure as manager of the Washington Nationals, it is interesting to wonder what difference a Stan Kasten-like leader would have made during the last few months. Kasten resigned as team president at the end of the 2010 season. His leadership and experience guided the Nationals, for better or for worse, through some rough waters as they wrestled control of the franchise back from Major League Baseball and rebuilt a decimated farm system. Mike Rizzo...

I checked in with Nationals pitcher Craig Stammen in Dayton, Ohio as he watched his Dayton Flyers play the George Washington Colonials in college basketball Wednesday night (Flyers won 66-51). Stammen took me on a tour of his alma mater, showing me the campus, the student housing known affectionately as "the Ghetto" and the Flyers' baseball stadium. He also joined me at halftime to talk Nats baseball as he prepares for Viera. Thank you to Federal News Radio and the Nationals flagship for...