Andrew Baggarly has covered the San Francisco Giants for the past decade, but the team is currently doing its best to prevent him from doing so during a pennant race. The Giants, who are currently tied for the lead in the wild card race, have apparently decided to freeze Baggarly out because the players are angry over something he wrote.
According to Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle, Giants manager Bruce Bochy was about to discuss Angel Pagan’s back injury on Tuesday night when Pagan cut the group interview short because of one specific reporter who was in the room.
That reporter was Baggarly, who began covering the Giants for the Oakland Tribune in 2004 and now works for CSN Bay Area — a company that airs Giants games and is 30% owned by the team. The players were furious after Baggarly reported that relief pitcher Sergio Romo and coach Shawon Dunston got into a shouting match before batting practice earlier this week. Baggarly offered his side of the story with a series of tweets early Wednesday morning.
“I’ve received a lot of support and many questions about my ability to cover the team under the current circumstances,” he wrote. “I’ll just say this: A reporter is never comfortable being the story, no matter how right or defensible their actions are. So I hope everyone enjoys the pennant race and will focus forward on that. I’ll do my best to cover the Giants with the same fairness, accuracy and comprehensive vigor that I’ve always strived to provide.”
Baggarly then noted that the rift he reported about took place while the clubhouse was open to the media and that he wasn’t the only reporter to cover it.
If it matters to anyone, the LA Times reported same thing I did. Argument happened while clubhouse was open to media. http://t.co/nEgWfoHlNh
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) September 24, 2014
If you ask me, it sounds like the Giants players are being incredibly immature. Baggarly has a job to do, and that is to cover the team — not cover up any issues that might make them look bad. If a player and coach got into it with media present, that’s their own fault. They should have controlled their tempers or had the argument in a more private setting. Punishing Baggarly for writing about it is childish.
H/T Deadspin
