Dallas Braden Rips MLB and Rob Manfred for Not Televising Gerrit Cole's Yankees Debut
By Jerry Trotta
Since his retirement, former MLB hurler Dallas Braden has transformed into one of baseball's most polarizing voices on Twitter.
Braden never shies away from making his opinion heard on social media, and that continued on Monday in a diatribe regarding the preposterous decision to not televise Gerrit Cole's first start in a New York Yankees uniform.
For MLB to have a player sign for damn near half a billion dollars & NOT televise his first outing for his new team who just so happens to be the most storied franchise in sports HISTORY is just ANOTHER swing & miss by Uncle Manfred & the rest of the clowns in the car. #CleanItUp
— Dallas Braden (@DALLASBRADEN209) February 24, 2020
We get that even some diehard baseball buffs aren't rushing to a television to catch Spring Training action, but this, as Braden notes, is inexplicable from the the league.
Cole inked the richest contract for a pitcher in league history this offseason. That narrative alone makes this settlement by Manfred a shameful one. Add in the fact that he signed with the freaking, whose first two games were on TV (one of which was aired on MLB Network), and this gaffe becomes even more glaring.
Gerrit Cole is making his Yankees spring training debut and the only way to follow it is on Pittsburgh radio.
— James Kelly (@jkellyESNY) February 24, 2020
Not. Ideal. pic.twitter.com/f7YNBtfILF
Given the tumultuous offseason that Manfred has endured, maybe baseball fans should just grow to assume that he'll blunder the most fundamental of judgements.