SAN FRANCISCO — For a baseball team that can’t seem to do anything right between the lines, you’d think the Giants would try to ace their image off the field.
And yet, their putrid play isn’t even the organization’s primary problem.
The public relations disasterclass that started almost two weeks ago when the franchise failed to get in front of a Pride Night fiasco that has escalated into a federal investigation and put the club in the crosshairs of a national political debate only continued Thursday.
Once again, a top club official was put in front of the press and took one big swing and a miss.
Two days after Buster Posey embarrassed himself by coming unprepared to address either of the biggest issues facing the team — Rafael Devers showing up his manager and his players’ objections to one of the team’s most important promotional nights — the president of baseball operations canceled his scheduled interview on the team’s flagship radio network, KNBR.
It was supposed to be Posey’s turn to appear on the weekly “Executive Show,” but instead it was CEO Larry Baer who came on with hosts John Dickinson and Dieter Kurtenbach.
Apparently even the friendliest possible setting was too scary for the team’s top baseball executive.
Dickinson introduced Posey’s replacement by telling listeners that the team’s top business-side executive had “some things [he] wants to address about Pride Night.” That much alone was dubious, given that Baer was not made available despite repeated requests by reporters following the uncomfortable session with Posey in which he would only answer “baseball questions.”
Despite apparently preparing a statement, Baer said about as little as Posey did two days prior and took no questions on the controversy. That, according to a source familiar, was a result of the restrictions put on the interview by team officials, who told the hosts in a meeting over Zoom the night before that Baer would be pinch-hitting and no follow-ups on the topic would be permitted.
Baer said he wanted to “speak from the heart” but offered the same mealy mouthed platitudes present in the organization’s lone, nameless statement after Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote Bible verses on the Pride Night hats that featured a rainbow Giants logo.
A fourth pitcher, Sam Hentges, opted to wear the Giants’ black and orange cap.
“I know we’ve heard from many fans, and I know there are deep feelings about the events of Pride Night this year. We know it, we’ve heard, we’re listening,” Baer said.
“Just come context here: It’s a North Star here to create an experience in our ballpark for all fans, at Candlestick and Oracle Park, an experience that’s welcoming to all fans. That has not changed. … You know, look, yes, we’ve learned a lot in the last 11 days. Yes, we could have handled things better this year, for sure. We’re absolutely committed to continuing conversations with the LGBTQ+ community going forward. That’s where we are as an organization. … I just wanted to deliver that message to the fans and move on. Let’s talk about some other things.”
The pitchers’ actions were initially reprimanded by MLB for violating the uniform code, leading the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the league over religious discrimination.
Commisioner Rob Manfred placed blame directly on the organization for the “inadequate” communication to its players, and given what we’ve seen from their public posturing, should it be any surprise that it’s apparently just as much of a mess behind closed doors?
But nobody, even the franchise’s supposed leaders, is willing to address any of that.
Even when posed with the line of questioning they prefer, the team’s top decision-makers don’t seem capable of coming up with adequate answers. Posey called his news conference despite having not even spoken to Devers, largely deflecting those inquiries to manager Tony Vitello.
Baer, asked about the team’s problematic bullpen, noted how unfortunate it was that they had lost last year’s All-Star closer, Randy Rodriguez, to elbow surgery — a development that took place last September, before Posey opted not to commit more than $2 million to any reliever.
The bullpen came up the last time Posey appeared on the KNBR airwaves. Asked about his lack of investment in the group over the offseason, he used a strawman to deflect criticism. He seemed to suggest his choices were committing $69 million to Edwin Diaz or nothing at all.
The inability to articulate a vision can be traced back to Posey’s first day on the job, when he suggested his plan to return the team to relevance was to focus on “making memories.”
Surely, nobody will forget this saga anytime soon.
Even if they would prefer to, as Baer put it, talk about some other things.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
