The MLB responded to the situation involving the Astros and Justin Verlander blocking the Detroit Free Press’ Anthony Fenech in the wake of Houston’s 2-1 loss to the Tigers Wednesday night.
According to a statement, the MLB says that Fenech should have been allowed access to the clubhouse during Verlander’s media availability confirming a violation of the CBA.
Meanwhile, CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder summed this up pretty spot on:
There are a few issues here. First off, he didn’t make clear what the unethical behavior was. Secondly, he reached out to them multiple times before the game? That just shows a misunderstanding of how media works. The Detroit paper isn’t sending out a backup reporter to Houston the day of the game because a player on the other team decided he doesn’t want one reporter there. Newspapers don’t print money like baseball teams do. Even if they did, Verlander doesn’t get to control the paper.
All Verlander has to do is ignore the guy. Instead, he went out of his way to get his team to ban this person from the clubhouse, undercutting his ability to do his job, because of “unethical behavior” in the past we don’t know about?
Not answering questions is one thing, that’s Verlander’s right. However, preventing a member of the media from doing his job is a total dickhead move on Verlander’s part.
