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MLB Network Cuts Ties With Top Correspondent

SGKing
With the MLB lockout bound to continue past the point of saving Opening Day, the league sent out a scathing statement towards the MLBPA Tuesday

OAKLAND, CA - OCTOBER 02: Rob Manfred Commissioner of Major League Baseball before the American League Wild Card Playoff game at RingCentral Coliseum on October 2, 2019 in Oakland, CA. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire)

Never bite the hand that feeds you.

The MLB owned network has cut ties with Ken Rosenthal, and it is believed that Rosenthal’s past criticism of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in columns written for The Athletic played a part in the decision, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

Rosenthal was once again a regular on the network after that, but his contract ultimately expired at the end of 2021. From the Post:

“As MLB Network continues to look at fresh ways to bring baseball to our viewers, there is a natural turnover in our talent roster that takes place each year,” an MLB spokesman told The Post. “Ken played a significant part at MLB Network over the last 13 years. From spring training to the winter meetings, we thank him for his work across MLB Network’s studio, game and event programming, and wish him the very best going forward.”

Rosenthal confirmed he was done at MLB Network and confirmed he will continue to work at The Athletic and Fox Sports.

in a column published back in June with the headline “Rosenthal: Manfred must strike a deal with the players or ruin his legacy,” the reporter accuses the commissioner of “performing a massive flip-flop”

“[Manfred] and the owners, supposed stewards of the game, are turning the national pastime into a national punch line, effectively threatening to take their ball and go home while the country struggles with medical, economic and societal concerns.

Baseball is a business, we all know that. But it is a business that former commissioner Bud Selig describes as a social institution with social responsibilities, a business that holds an antitrust exemption, distinguishing it from every other professional sports league. Such a business should hold itself to a higher standard, but in these talks, if you can even call them that, Manfred and the owners keep sinking lower. Unless making dead-on-arrival proposals, tone-deaf public remarks and other assorted blunders is your idea of negotiating savvy.”

When you’re on the MLB payroll, you just can’t say some things.

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