Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was a guest on First Take on ESPN on Wednesday, and FOX Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb wished Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had asked Manfred more pressing questions.
Manfred was asked about a range of topics from the new rule changes, to this year’s playoffs and the attendance woes for the Tampa Bay Rays.
On The Doug Gottlieb Show later Wednesday, Doug said Manfred wasn’t going to speak on pitcher Trevor Bauer’s situation and for good reason. Manfred’s team probably pre-screened the questions before the interview, and since Mad Dog also hosts High Heat on MLB Network, there was a good chance in Gottlieb’s eyes that Russo wasn’t going to bring Bauer up.
“But what happens is the PR person sets up the interview, and Jason Stewart – our esteemed producer – knows this because previous to this job his previous big job was working for FOX Sports. And this is how the business works,” Gottlieb said. “You get a big guest, and they’re like, ‘Hey you can’t ask about…’ and then you have to make a decision as a show unit, or as a company, are we still gonna have him on?”
Gottlieb added that it was likely Trevor Bauer was a subject off limits anyway. Still, Doug offered a criticism of Stephen A. Smith for not at least bringing up hard issues for the commissioner to discuss. He said the most embarrassing part was that Stephen A. has claimed he’s a journalist and he’s bigger than anything ESPN alone. Yet he didn’t want to hold Manfred’s feet to the fire.
“It is your duty as a journalist to ask a fair but hard question,” Gottlieb said. “A fair but hard question, and they didn’t ask any of them. And look, I’m only pointing out Stephen A. because he had Manfred on.”
“I’ve made mistakes, and I don’t have a journalist’s background, I do know most of the rules. I’ve made open mistakes about it,” he added. “But the one thing I will never do for you the listener or you the viewer, when you watch this stuff on any of our social media stuff, is I can’t play scared. I played scared in basketball. Scared to miss a shot.”
Doug later said he made it a point to himself to play smart in radio but don’t play scared.
I don’t have all the evidence. I don’t know all the facts. All I can do is react to what Trevor Bauer has been able to produce,” he said.
Doug Gottlieb suggested that Stephen A. could’ve phrased the question in a way that would have at least given Manfred a chance to detail what process, if any, Bauer would need to follow to get back with an MLB club or at least address the latest developments.
“And that’s all Manfred had to say today,” he said. “Ask me a question and then say, ‘Look this is all new information. We’re still gathering it. We want to give all of our players a chance to be heard and defend themselves and then we’ll make a determination.'”
