An odd story has popped up in recent days involving the San Francisco Giants. Members of the team are apparently boycotting a beat writer because of something written over the past few days. The nugget came out in an article by Henry Schulman of SFGate.
Pagan was not immediately available for comment. Before Bochy spoke, Pagan abruptly cut short a group interview because of the presence of one beat reporter whom he and other players say they will boycott, angry over something he wrote.
Steve Berman of Bay Area Sports Guy put two and two together, and drew the conclusion that Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area was the reporter being boycotted, because of an article he wrote on Monday night talking about a shoving match at Dodger Stadium between Giants reliever Sergio Romo and coach Shawon Dunston.
Since Baggarly works for CSN Bay Area, which the Giants own 30% of, should he exercise judgment in reporting things that might piss the team off? Or is his commitment to being a unbiased reporter too strong, even given the ownership of his employers?
The answer here is obvious: there’s no way he should whitewash all of his columns and reporting just to please the Giants. That’s not his job. He’s not employed by the team, he works for an outlet that the team owns a minority stake in. It’s petty for the Giants players to take issue with his reporting, even if he did editorialize a bit (before that editorializing was removed) in describing the incident.
Baggarly responded on Twitter, and more or less confirmed the reports by Berman and Deadspin.
I've received a lot of support and many questions about my ability to cover the team under the current circumstances. I'll just say this:
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 24, 2014
A reporter is never comfortable being the story, no matter how right or defensible their actions are.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 24, 2014
I'll do my best to cover the Giants with the same fairness, accuracy and comprehensive vigor that I've always strived to provide.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) September 24, 2014
He also took a thinly veiled shot at the Giants, making note that the LA Times reported the same thing he did (though without the editorializing).
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 (@extrabaggs) September 24, 2014
What a mess. No one looks great coming out of this. The Giants look petty, and Baggarly looks like he has an ax to grind with Romo because of the since-removed comments about the fight. With the Postseason on the horizon, both parties better get this squared away so the clubhouse doesn’t devolve into chaos with plenty of national reporters on the scene.
[Deadspin]
