Carpenter Deserves Recognition in Nats' Booth

The Washington Nationals and MASN, the regional cable sports network that broadcasts their games, need to do the right thing and immediately re-sign play-by-play man Bob Carpenter to a long-term deal.

It also would be the right thing to apologize to him for some rather shabby treatment over the last few weeks, when Carpenter, the voice of the team the last two seasons, took the high road following the Nats' low-road decision to tell him his services no longer would be needed with two weeks still remaining on the 2007 schedule.

Let's get this straight. Carpenter is not the second coming, or the third or even fourth of Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell or Jon Miller, three of the greatest baseball broadcasters of all time. There have been times when he has been a tad too homer-ish for my taste, other times when his play-by-play style of identifying Nats by their first names only can be downright maddening, particularly for casual followers of the team.

But all-in-all, he's a perfectly competent professional baseball broadcaster who knows the game and the team he's covering, offers up more than occasional interesting insights and telling anecdotes and somehow manages to keep up his energy level over the very long haul of a 162-game regular season and spring training, as well.

So why did Nats team president Stan Kasten tell him two weeks ago that he likely would not have his two-year contract extended?

Kasten isn't saying anything for public consumption. Nor is MASN executive producer Chris Glass. Both declined through their respective spokesmen to comment for this article.

Other sources familiar with the situation indicated that the team's owners, the Lerner family, were not exactly enamored with Carpenter, if only because they were interested in possibly getting a bigger name as they prepare to move into their showcase new ballpark next season.

Carpenter's partner, analyst Don Sutton, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and one of Kasten's good friends as well as his past employee when both were with the Atlanta Braves, also reportedly went to management during the season. He apparently expressed some concerns that his style did not always mesh with Carpenter's, even though it rarely came across in the broadcasts I occasionally tuned in to. Carpenter said he considered Sutton a friend, and the two shared many meals and tee times over the course of the season.

Still, Kasten reportedly had his eye on ESPN broadcaster Dan Shulman, who handles a variety of radio and television play-by-play assignments for the worldwide leader. But apparently, he didn't do enough due diligence. It turned out that not only is Shulman tied to ESPN contractually for another three years, he actually loves his job and apparently has no desire to be in a baseball stadium 185 times a year.

Of course the Nationals found this out after they had told Carpenter he likely would not be back next year. But when it became obvious to them that Shulman wasn't going anywhere, Kasten had a conversation with Carpenter this past Friday and told him the team was re-thinking its position, and that he very well could be offered a contract to stay.

I spoke with Carpenter by telephone on Monday as he was driving across the country back to his home in Tulsa. He was probably going to make a stop along the way to talk with another club that was interested in his services, but he also made it very obvious that he would dearly love to stay with the Nationals, despite the shabby way he's been treated.

"I'm in a holding pattern," he said. "I was approached (by the Nationals) last weekend and told that maybe it's not over, and in a week they'll let me know what they're thinking¿.It's a bizarre situation. The club has made no comment. I don't know if the reaction of fans has turned the tide. I just know the door is not closed. It's not wide open, but it's a lot more ajar."